The Caged

 What is a bird?

The captive child asked

never having seen the sun,

let alone a creature taking wing

free on the wind,

If a pile of shoes could not

throw you,

nor the device where men

were pressed flat,

the vintage of their arteries

running in grooves on the floor--

let that question haunt you:

"What is a bird?"

And how would you explain

the thousand and one things

he'd never seen in the world,

let alone the things

he had?