"Blue Bird" by Nelly Shenklyarska
By the time its wing had broken,
my blue glass bird,
I had
Myself
flown free.
Quite beyond
magic charms, incantations,
totems, affirmations;
Quite beyond
the fees to speak my pain,
and the pleas with the god who does not
watch every sparrow,
to his shame.
By the time its wing had broken,
however formerly it would have presaged doom,
I had grown my own wings,
leaving the fallen sparrows far behind,
Knowing only that fly, or plummet,
Was my choice,
and only mine.