FLIGHTLESS, Free Verse Options

[Maureen]

Flightless


He lay mute - encased in a plastic drink bottle...
Packed in a box alongside his three dead companions.
Gaffer tape around his tiny beak and webbed feet.
A living Mummy encased in a cardboard sarcophagus.

His tiny eyes full of fear and desperation.
His breathing shallow and heart beat rapid.
Such a fragile connection to life.

A random find. The box had split apart - missing pieces.
Lucky the dog had found him before all hope had gone.
One fairy penguin saved. But how many others were lost?

Wildlife smugglers. Shoot the bastards
who torment these defenceless animals
to feed their own greed and depravity.

How many other native birds
fly away from our shores
encased in cardboard and tape coffins?
with their wings never feeling the air that gives them flight.



Maureen Clifford ©