Little Bird

23rd September 2015. Chiang Mai.

​Little Bird outside my window, enclosed in caging,
Around you all ignore your incessant chirping,
Or if they hear, they find it sweet and charming,
For they would not keep you,
if they knew what you were saying.

Do you think that a person, like this would be trapped?
Then it hit me, hard, like my face had been slapped,
That millions of humans like this are encaged,
And how they must be roaring, screaming, enraged.

But those who keep them do not listen,
Lock them up tight, and do not see,
Eyes covered
Ears blocked
Minds stopped
Hands clasped
Hearts closed
Spirits dead. or dying.

Just a bird, just a bird, just a bird,
Just an animal, just like you,
Wings clipped
Voice silenced
Hopes dashed
Dreams broken
Freedom taken
Life stolen and sold.

One day a friend sits upon your cage and is saying:
''Are you not flying, little bird? Are you captured?
Maybe I can do something to help, or at least I can try,
So together, you and I, away we may fly.''

And I know, little bird, your friend is wise in his thinking,
For he knows he is not free while you are enslaved,
No creature is free while one bird cannot soar,
While one fish can't swim, one lion can't roar.

And so, right now, I am taking a vow,
Someday I shall be that friend to someone, somehow.

While this poem I was writing,
Night fell, and little bird stopped tweeting,
Somewhere, out there, you are now sleeping,
Out in the dark, your heart is still beating.