Black Bird

You turned the corner
And I flipped my mood.
I inhaled hard and fast
but you don’t know
what you did to me.

I couldn’t help but study you
Broken, confused
You limped and sort-of hopped
But you should be flying...FLY!
I want you to fly
and I also need to cry.

You’re stumbling as if drunk
or a lost homeless man
carrying his burden of despair
and you don’t even see me,
right there
or DO you?
Meandering left and right
No direction in mind
looking over your shoulder
and seeing nothing ahead
on this early morning sidewalk

The light turned green…
I’m pulling away so slowly
But I want to stay with you
Broken black bird.
I’m so frustrated
that I must drive away
I “can’t” attend to you
like I would a wounded human
You’re “just” a small thing
And I have to get to work.

You’re broken wing
Its’ hanging like a shingle
on an old gray house
Abandoned, condemned
The wind could blow it away
When it used to carry you on the wind
It’s your burden now
a limp flap-less wing
how much does it hurt?
Roughed-up and disheveled
like a suitcase man-handled
by careless baggage handlers.

I feel the pain of your injury
because I know it’s mortal.
You’ll wander and stumble
until your last bit of energy flees
Maybe, I hope, find a nice tree
to rest under and wait
all you can do is wait…

I hope hope hope
You won’t turn-off the sidewalk
into the street.
You don’t know why
but you’ll do it
and swiftly get crushed
by another commuter
oblivious and self-centered like me
racing to punch a fucking time clock
killing both you and the life within.

I’ll use a different route home today
Because I fear I’ll find you here
But we won’t be able to talk
like I want to talk to you now.
Goodbye fellow soul traveler
I hope I will get out of my car to speak
next time…