Questions For My Canary Poem by Yen Cress

Speck of yellow, cheery song,
Toothpick legs below,
Sweet canary in a cage,
How much do you know?

Do you know of warring men,
Know of fearful strife?
Battlefields in far-off lands?
Death by gun or knife?

When you eat your daily seeds,
Do you think of boys
Living out of garbage cans,
Never owning toys?

Do you know of little girls
Wearing rags for clothes?
Little bird in feathered dress,
What about all those?

Someone cleans your cage each day,
Gives you special treats.
Do you know of homeless babes
Living in the streets?

Happy bird, delightful chum,
Have you suffered pain?
Do you know the grief of death?
Have you loved in vain?

Do you think of sin and hell,
Sitting on your perch?
Is there guilt in someone who
Never goes to church?

Would you like to take my place,
Live as humans do?
Sheltered in your gilded cage,
What is life to you?

I have fear, and pain, and doubt,
Living out here, free.
But - a cage? I'd rather die!
Give me liberty!