People are like birds

People are like birds…
waiting to earn trust
just never quite getting there.
Always jumpy, guarding themselves,
watching out for their own feathers.

Darting eyes, pushy for food, their own desires.

The pecking order is so strong…
size, beauty, personality, power
all rule the roost.

People are like birds…
some make noise, some sing songs, purpose is to praise.
Do you hear the birds?
Their praise is constant and sweet.
Do you hear the people?
Their praise is confused and often silent.

Look at the birds… neither sowing nor reaping…
yet they are fed.
Look at the people… constant toil and worry…
Are they really fed?

Yet are not the people of a far greater value?

How long shall we worry?
How long shall we toil over worldly treasures?
How long shall our praise be silent"?

Birds act on their purpose
People rebel their purpose

God make me like a bird
so that I may praise you sweet and constant.

A note about this writing… I wrote this piece (whatever it actually is, poetry?) while living in Research, Victoria, Australia on August 29, 2002. We had been there nearly two months and this just came to me one day. I was mesmerized by the birds of Australia and I was processing the great many transitions we were experiencing. Interestingly… this was nearly 20 years ago. I can see in myself where I was then, where I am today, and the great many turns I have taken in between. These things change us and make us, and we wouldn’t necessarily say the same things 20 years later. However, the earlier me cries out to be heard! So I post this piece here.