i got dive bombed by a red wing blackbird
coming around that steep curve
right after you hit the blacktop.
there was a crunch and a thunk
and my heart hurt for the little wild thing,
but i reckoned the worst was over.
then came a flutter and a scrape

and a feeling of dread as i stopped the car
and my stomach hit the gravel
of the freewill baptist parking lot.
there was the broke neck bird,
poor little wild thing,
stuck tight
and chirping a dangling death knell.
the country girl in me

knew i should end the misery
of those broken legs and broken wings.
but i couldn’t do it through the tears
so i pulled it loose and laid it down
and left it there to die
beneath that big oak tree.
poor, poor, little wild thing.