ANGEL

#NaPoWriMo 2020
Prompt: Early Bird

A nestling orphaned and rescued
from a flock of ravenous crows
tended, cared, for days and weeks
and slowly nursed back to health.

Now she's fully grown with feathers proud
screeching all the time
jealous, demanding, she pouts her beak
calling out our names.

The gilded cage in our kitchen's corner
is all that parrot's world
where she reigns like a royal queen
spoilt to the core.

I know not whether her childhood memories
of blue skies and the verdant trees
and myriad flowers of variant hues
are still afresh in her mind.

I know not if she yearns to have
a mate to build a nest
or winged friends of the same feather
to soar in the skies above.

All I know is the loneliness that a week
in this prison, I've endured
and the longing for the dusty streets
where I could once roam free.

How I long for the familiar sights and sounds
of the town, I call my own
the songs of birds on morning walks
and the traffic snarls I curse.

How l long for the ocean's smell
and the fury of the waves
Oh, to sleep on those wet sand beaches
under the starlit skies!

How I long to watch the moon
go behind the clouds
and to feel the summer rains lash
across my face.

Gilded cages and Ivory towers
are not where true happiness dwells
the music of a parrot's song
is to be heard from swinging trees.

I swear I'll set my Angel free
when dawn breaks out tomorrow
I swear I'll set my Angel free
when dawn breaks out tomorrow.