A shadow detached itself from <br />a tall tree, and winged passed me <br />in a zig-zag flight... <br />I recall reading Leonardo bought <br />a sparrow in a Florentine market, <br />cupped gently, briefly, panting and <br />stretching, in his painter's hands. <br /> <br />Then, he released it into the same <br />zig-zag flight I had witnessed earlier. <br />I also remember, in a darker April, <br />an opposite story when I was eleven. <br />A friend and I were shooting arrows <br />into strawmen on the Seminary grounds. <br />He aimed his bow at a robin, standing nearby. <br /> <br />'Don't shoot! ' I cried, but he did, <br />and it was hit... The arrow hung loosely <br />in the bird's breast, and he tore it roughly out. <br />I was left with the bird, panting and <br />stretching toward a different end. <br />I used a rock to release the robin. <br />On the way home, lugging our bows <br /> <br />and arrows, he laughed....<br /><br />Daniel Brick<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-sparrow-and-a-robin/
