::: Winter Flight :::

I tried to cage my little bird
til she rattled 'gainst the bars
she seemed then so woeful
my heart could not bear
her continued entrapment

mournfully I did weep
as the door I slid open
but kept my face turned away
that the sparrow not see
how the tears wet my cheeks

she flew into the winter night
her song I could not hear
at knowing her release
my heart froze with the snows
as those wings drew her away

::: Sparrow :::

there is a girl I know
I should like to kiss her
soft like a sparrow's down
chirping affections
like songs at the joy of a seed

these feathered flirtations
light in the air
a wing escaping earth
but lost in the downthrust
shed in excess

no caged sparrow
I fear to crush her
in my attempts to tame
I'd rather see her fly free
than not at all