Of Birds And Barbed Wire Poem by Sadie Monroe

A bird sitting on a barbed wire.
A timid creature resting on something meant to harm.
Does she know she doesn't belong there?
Does she know, she,
something so beautiful,
should stay away from something so ugly?
Is she out of place, or do we tell her she is.
Who are we to tell her where she belongs?

Is beauty created by us
or is ugliness?
Beauty is everywhere,
so Man couldn't have created it.
But ugliness surrounds us too.
Doesn't it?
Or are we just told it does?

We, the beautiful,
keep our distance from they, the unloved, the unlovely.
Do we not see them in us?
Deep down, do we not fear our own scars?
How do we distance ourselves from something within?

Do we tear ourselves apart,
searching, scouring,
for the parts that are wrong?
Do we create and destroy repeatedly,
searching, longing,
for what is missing?

A swirling of atoms,
forming and imploding,
forming and imploding,
never to make a perfect thing.

So why do we cast aside parts of ourselves
that we see as unworthy?
When everything is shouting 'not enough, not enough'
Is it not all we can do?