Zoo Bird

The square of sky is white today.
A bird flies by.
A silent shape,
gliding past the vast and empty expanse of space.

I watch it from my enclosure.
Staring up through nets that cage me.
I extend a wing and sweep down to the tough green grass,
cold and ragged.

At its edge, water streams and hums in eternal flow.
I watch it gyre and swirl,
and see below me tiny insects teem and breed
in the droplet seed that forms their entire world.

I hop and fly to my familiar log,
and cock an eye to the square of sky.
A bird flies by.

© Mark Sheeky. Permission is required for reproduction.