When I was still a single digit,
one summer my father found
a baby bird fallen
out of an evergreen.
My failed attempt to rescue
the tiny bird,
smaller than my pinky
is still an emotional upset
I do my best to make up for
with every life I save;
a dog at one end of my couch,
a mischief at the other,
a rabbit down the hall
beyond the kitchen
at the end of the stairway
where my basement belongs.
All at one point,
smaller than my pinky
but each a life worth saving,
because even I once was.
because even I once was.
