RAISED BY BIRDS

By Alice Fenner

I named you sweetheart

for bringing damp twigs to the nest

recreating the moist conditions

that suit my skin.

For teaching me a language of song

of desire

of not caring who can hear

I called you Sir

and Master.

You were meant to arrive at the end

when I was withered and dry-eyed

and take me away forever

to the Gods

to the Spirits

but not you.

Multicoloured bird

you came at the beginning

when I was full of water

full of grain

and I let you pull me from the mud.

A big adventure towards the sun.

It was during your daily drilling in the garden

when I saw you eating

devouring

that I realised

I was not your child.

I had been flown in

and fattened up.

So I made a run for it.

Rumour has it

I can be cut in half

and survive as two creatures

one with a gut

and one with a heart.

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