The Bird Who Stopped And Then Flew Away Poem by RIC BASTASA

the kind of love you bring is temporary
and you define love as a bird migrating to summer always
away from winter.

you are amazed by birds leaving nests.
whales in the deepest oceans traveling from one continent to
another and then surrendering to a bloody death
in an island

you find sorrow in birds caged
in animals kept in a zoo
in aquariums.

i did not bother i was too busy
until you have read that kind of love story
to my niece

she is grieving about a bird which stopped
for a while in her palm
pecked one of the lines there
looked at her for such a short time
and then flew away.