BIRD CONFINED

October in Guernsey ended in a series of wet, dismal days and the forecast for much of November promises similar gloom.
Trapped indoors and feeling decidedly under par, I am experiencing a crushing sense of confinement and attempt to distract myself by rummaging through stacks of paper in the hope of discovering some abandoned poem or story to retrieve and rework.
This short one came to hand. No reworking is necessary.

THE CAGE

The child’s attention is engaged
by a red fire-finch, captured, caged.
Man steals the fire-finch from the wild.
Time steals childhood from the child.
How similar are both their fates.
The cage of adulthood awaits.