Who Is Outside?

 

I see you through the glass

I can’t hear any sound

Your feathers are multicoloured

You start to move around

 

You have funny extra toes

At the end of pointy feet

Lifting quickly up and down

To a very peculiar beat

 

When you begin to flap

Those spindly looking wings

Your beak opens and shuts

And your feathers start to swing

 

I wait for you to rise

Up high into the air

But you stay flat on the ground

And all I can do is stare

 

I ease a little closer

And softly I hear you tweet

A pretty little tune

To match your dancing feet

 

I open my small eyes wide

And take another step

I stretch my short neck forward

Then all of a sudden… ‘WACK’

 

That stupid piece of glass

That separates you from me

I’m going back to my home

I’ll watch you from my tree

 Jodie Davidson

• This poem was highly commended in the 12th Kathleen Julia Bates Memorial Writing Competition.