A Baby Mockingbird Poem by Juan Olivarez

Sitting in my front yard,
A mockingbird fell from a tree.
And I couldn't see it in my heart,
To just sit there and let him be.

I picked him up, amid the din,
His parents were raising all around.
With so many cats, it would have been a sin,
To leave him sitting on the ground.

I tried to put him in his tree,
But he flew down again.
It seems to me he couldn't see,
The danger he was in.

I took him inside, and put him in,
A little bird cage that I have.
Planning to return him to his kin,
When he was strong enough to leave.

In the morning I went to see the mockingbird,
Just to make sure that he was fed.
And though no peep all night I heard,
The little mockingbird was dead.

It broke my heart to see him so,
And now my soul is in a rage.
All I wanted was to see him go,
None of God's creatures should be caged.

7/15/10 Alton Texas