Wings of Iron, Words of Ash

By Amlan Hossain

A few bars of metal join at the top

A green squeaky parrot sits with a nice hair chop,

Sitting on a false bark, she looks through the window,

And wonders which boat the hovering clouds row,

A few seeds of chillies lie on the floor

In the cage, she was sold as a slave before.

Intimidated and shy, she nods her head left and right

And her curved beak latches on a metal bar,

An ugly black crow flies past the clouds,

And he notices the caged parrot with no scar.

The parrot looks at him, disgusted at his long beak

A dirty polythene clenched, made her feel sick.

"My dear sir, will you, come down here,

How come you surf the sky with no fear"

The crow ignored her saying, her every human word

But noticed a sense of dismay, which he never heard.

He swoops down to the window, and knocks on the glass,

He keeps his scavenged food safe in a can,

"Hey woman, did you call me, while siping molass ?

Or did I imagine some other animal enslaved by a man?"

"It was me, my good sir, I saw you fly outside,

All the laws they printed, do you not abide?

I have a house, a home, and a man that loves me,

And yet I see you, flap your wings, and feeling happy"

"Woman, are these manners that your owner taught you?

And told you that life outside a cage is nothing but blue?

You call this a home? Look at you, chained to a twig,

Have you ever stepped outside and see the world so big?"

"Dear sir, your words prick me to my sweet soul,

Have you no heart, or is it just a big lump of coal?

I can talk and make every man smile,

Why do you possess nothing but a cruel guile"

"You parrot, open up your manly ears and listen to me,

I know not any man-made language, for you see

My creed of scavengers know only to eat and fly,

And hand in hand, all laws of man we defy.

We know only nature, our Mother with no defect,

Your men come with choppers and tall buildings they erect.

They think not twice before they killed half my brothers,

And caged the others to teach them not to do all that bothers."

The parrot stood silent, and a shiver ran down her spine,

She realised she was nothing to a man, but a trophy to shine,

The crow looked straight into her confused eyes,

And said cruel words that led to her world's demise.

"I fly so high, for I know nothing but to survive,

I am not of a species that harms to dominate and thrive,

I now know why you're beautiful and in a metal cage,

Because you can speak, and that's what makes humans enrage,

We are ugly, and we clean up what the humans throw as a waste,

From a pile of garbage, we choose dirty rags and the rest.

My words hurt you because you know I speak only honesty,

You were moulded into a puppet, a machine of modesty."

The crow turned back with a fiest in his eyes,

And the parrot realised she was just a playful device,

The ugly crow knew no bounds and flew to the clouds and he vanished,

While the talking bird was locked in a metal cage with her freedom banished.