Two in the Bush
by Barbara Ruth Saunders
A fat sparrow, white crown gleaming
Hops from the ground
Makes its way deep into the bush
Moments later, a squawk—
A hawk flushes and takes flight
Which one screamed?
It might have been the raptor, youthful and brown,
Eyes yellow like foliage almost done for
Grasping its meal like the dying leaves
Grip the branches
In a futile fight with Mother Nature
Whose biological clock steadily ticks
Generating next year’s life
Also condemned from the beginning
Did the hawk stave off starvation for one more day?
Or maybe it was the songbird
Whose tunes come without lyrics
Give no reassurance of having God’s eye at all
Let alone His intercession
Did the sparrow see one more sunset?
This mammal was relieved
It happened so fast
I didn’t have time to feel bad
About staying out of it
None of this is my responsibility
Barbara Ruth Saunders writes poetry, memoir, and criticism and performs at poetry readings and solo performance venues in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her debut poetry collection, Hearing Voices, was released in 2024, and her work has appeared online at Highland Park Poetry and in the anthology Silence is Consent.
You can read the entire This Makes up the Sky series by visiting: https://womenwhosubmitlit.org/category/the-sky/