A shadow detached itself from
a tall tree, and winged passed me
in a zig-zag flight...
I recall reading Leonardo bought
a sparrow in a Florentine market,
cupped gently, briefly, panting and
stretching, in his painter's hands.
Then, he released it into the same
zig-zag flight I had witnessed earlier.
I also remember, in a darker April,
an opposite story when I was eleven.
A friend and I were shooting arrows
into strawmen on the Seminary grounds.
He aimed his bow at a robin, standing nearby.
'Don't shoot! ' I cried, but he did,
and it was hit... The arrow hung loosely
in the bird's breast, and he tore it roughly out.
I was left with the bird, panting and
stretching toward a different end.
I used a rock to release the robin.
On the way home, lugging our bows
and arrows, he laughed....
Daniel Brick
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-sparrow-and-a-robin/
