Peaceable Kingdom

              In a sanctuary for hurt birds is a cage of horned owls,
              most, maybe all, with torn or broken wings,
              their eyes like traffic lights stopped at yellow,
              their heads turning, tracking, in perfect unison.
              Above the cage a free owl sits on a branch,
              in slingshot range, waiting, we think, for his mate,
              who will not be flying any more.
              Not far away is a cage of bald eagles, angry,
              surrounded by the wires that kindness wove,
              the claws of their yellow feet raking the branches
              everything in them wants to leave behind.


              Conrad Squires

     
              *         *          *
      

              about the poem:

              "This poem was written after a visit to a bird sanctuary in Florida--
              one of the strangest places I have ever seen."


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