The Parrot Poem by Gert Strydom

Cage in like in a prison
it walks up and down
and looks at itself in the mirror
and it gets food and water
and the days pass
and water and food it gets
and in its prison it has to stay
and it remembers the green woods
and the odours of bananas
and berries and nuts
and the blue sky
that is open and free
and streams
where the most delicious water flows.

It calls to its mate
and ask for salvation
and nobody and nothing comes
and out of the humdrum
it starts to imitate sounds
and its people
take it out of its cage
and scratches its head
and cuts its wings
and bring delicacies,
but back to its prison
it must go en its serve it sentence
until it dies.