When Sparrows Matter More Poem by Donal Mahoney

Find the book
and blow
the dust off.

It’s somewhere
in the house.
Every house

used to have one
if only to record
births and deaths.

Find the passage
about the sparrows
and you will see

that you and I
and every man
are worth more

than any sparrow
yet you and I
and every man may

spread seed
or old bread
for sparrows

on a winter day
yet hustle past
the homeless man

who squats
in sun or snow
outside McDonald’s.