Broken Flight

Wings fluttering hard
Against cement
Flecked with obsidian
This cuts my fingers
Turns them white with torn layers of skin

Tiny wings:
Colored to hide in wooded secrecy
Stand proudly against the drab grey of the morning
Shadowed pavement cold
Inches from the blinding sun

Small and helpless
Wings softer than silk
Are trying to fly
Panic desperate
Faith and fear
Keep you fluttering
Beating your wings

Tiny
Cannot fly
Your soft body heaving hard
Again
And again
Against the shard-walk

You are not strong enough to live
You will die soon
As Darwin dictated
You will have to sacrifice yourself
Waiting anguished
Extinguishing in pain
To serve another creature

Waiting pain
Quietly and quickly end it
Save you
By killing you

But is it right of me to take your life?
Which you seem to cling to
As you cling to my finger
In my cupped child-hands
You spend your energy
Not escaping

Soft wings
You leave cold dust on my hands

I am cursed
Steinbeck’s simpleton
You are soft
Contact comforting

Was it mercy that I killed you?
Is it ever mercy that kills?
Can you forgive me for what I did to you?
I’m sorry

I wish I could have seen you fly.