Sometimes when I look up at the sky
And catch a glimpse of a bird or two,
I wonder how those wings smoothly fly
Ever so easily, cutting through the blue.
Sometimes I hear a crow crowing,
Its smooth, black feathers glowing,
Or find a wild turkey
With its feathers grey and murky,
Or see a peacock dancing,
Its magnificent colours enhancing,
I often sit and wonder,
Have we humans committed a blunder?
Circling above our heads each day,
Begging us not to make them our prey,
For even a single stroke of arrow
Can make death meet an innocent sparrow.
How beautiful these creatures are,
Singing like angels, shining like stars,
But, ah, they compare to none
When they hear the firing of the gun,
For the creature I thought to be free lays dead,
Trapped in the greedy hunter’s clever thread.
Birds are either caged or free,
But the difference, do note, is easy to see,
For the free bird sings not with fright
While the caged one silently cries at night.
Poet’s Bio: Salonee Kumar is a student at Bombay Scottish School, Mahim. She resides in Mumbai, India.