We saw you with your fully empty head
That harbours the thought of superiority
We could have looked away;
We saw one of yours bitten by a snake
Writhing in pain with no help in sight
We could have helped him;
We saw you bathing in a room with no roof
Scraping the dirt outside while inner is clogged
We could have looked away;
We saw your neighbour selling off your son
The son you announced missing days ago
We could have foiled his plans;
We saw your leaders feasting with the culprits
The culprits who had left the sea disturbed
We could have frustrated them;
But lo
and behold;
We saw one of mine whose wings you broke
Sprawling in the dark brown earth.
We saw your sons and daughters watched
With faces stabbed by wonders;
From here we see tomorrow
We see the storm coming to remove your rooftop
We see the man coming to rip your heart
We see him a mile away;
We lie in wait to peck your eyeballs
To feed on your carcass.
Here is an allegorical poem about birds and man. The birds fly above us so they definitely have to see a lot of things that we do without our awareness. According to this poem, they see a lot of harm that is befalling man and they could help but they refuse to help because ‘…we saw one of ours whose wings you broke, sprawling in the dark brown earth; we saw your sons…’ man has hurt their cherished ones so as retaliation, they refuse to help humans. Beyond what they have seen in the past and what they are seeing in the present, they can also see some of what will happen to man in the future. They see the evils coming and they are ready to add theirs ‘…to peck your eyeballs; to feed on your carcass.’
Beyond the surface meaning of birds and man that this poem gives, there is even a deeper meaning. The birds symbolizes the people some of us have hurt, knowingly or unknowingly or people that just hate us because they think that we have ‘…fully empty heads that harbours the thought of superiority.’ These people watch us and everything we do without commenting and even know things that will happen but just lay in waiting to see it happen and either mock us or add theirs to it.
The poem is written in 28 lines. The poetic devices include repetition, symbolism/allegory and personification.