Joey the Budgie

No one cares
About words
and how much
I need them

Even from across the road
They make pictures
In my bird cage

My Dad
Was big Joe
And I, according to aunt Doris
Was little Joey

And somehow
In my childhood
I became
Joey the Budgie
Sitting on a swing
Dying in the dark
Too scared to move

We spent a lot of time together
Little joey and me
Making wings to fly

Then, one day
Joey did fly
Out of the window

My mother explained
He had no chance in the wild
That the wild birds
Would attack him

I felt a little sorry
I wondered how lone
He lived for

But then part of me also
Flew away with him
And I had no regrets

So, someone
Brought another budgie
This one
Was so scared
It flew up the chimney