Metal Bird

Wings spread wide to catch the early breeze,

her head lifted, elegant for the climb into

a cloudless, blue desert sky, she waits,

constrained by a metal harness that holds

her to the white flowered oleander bush.

She watches as mating doves nest in the branches

above, darting hummingbirds taste the sweetness

of pink blossoms on a neighboring cactus.

Her metal body, suspended in space, quivers

in the wind.  There is no flight for the metal bird.

Does she long to break free, to inhale cool, early

morning air, look down onto the tops of cottonwoods,

fly freely through shadowed canyons in the Catalinas?

Poor thing bound to the earth.  From my window

I watch small gray sparrows land gently on a nearby

oleander branch and sing to her, a beautiful range

of happy notes to say "Hello" and to wish her well.