Canary

• Yehezqel Schuster, Grade 11
• Poetry
• 2019

hello sweet little bird,
with fragile wings trapped behind a shrinking cage
my own wings are made of unkept promises.
still you chatter –
a truly marvelous song
while my heart seeps its own;
listless and melancholy.
but little bird you can’t see the bars that contain you.
can i?
oh I can only imagine
what you would give for a chance
a single chink in life’s armor
to spread your pretty little wings -
show the world that you can fly.
meanwhile, we wait deep within the mines of loneliness,
waiting, waiting for the moment
when the air around us thins enough
that all we will ever see
is the void that separates the stars.