#58: Back to the Nest (Part 1)

Last year, while visiting northern California to see my brothers family, and visit some old friends from college, I wrote a couple poems. The first was one I posted a couple weeks ago called "Monsters in the Night" and was a pretty quick write. The other one I wrote was a struggle. Though most of it was written while up in Northern California, I couldn't think of how to finish the poem. 

I was spending the day visiting Chris Tan whom I had the chance to disciple while working with Epic at UC Davis, and Drew Tan, who I had the privilege of leading a Bible Study with in Epic. These are two very close friends who I admire greatly. 

We met up in San Francisco for lunch and I was telling them about this poem I was writing about a mother bird who leaves her nest to go get worms. The bird unfortunately crashes while hunting for worms and can no longer fly. I was about 3/4 done with the poem, but still had no ending. As Chris, Drew and myself were talking about the possible themes that could come from the poem, they gave me a great idea on how to finish it. Their idea blew my mind it was so good. It completely changed the tone of the poem in a brilliant way. The ending was now in my head thanks to Drew and Chris, but I couldn't find the right words to use. It was a severe case of writers block. Eventually I found the words but I find it's a bit unrefined. 

Anyways, since its kind of long, I broke it down in to three parts. Here is part one. 

Mama bird she wakes up 

Before the rising sun

She has food to find 

So much to be done

Her chicklets resting calmly 

Soon will need to eat

To feed her babies daily 

Is not an easy feat

She goes out to the river

Her mind is on the hunt

She needs to raise her babies

Even the little runt

Soaring through the air 

She hits a gust of wind

It blows her off her course

Into a tailspin

Hopelessly she’s flapping 

She hit a Douglas fir

The ground approaching fast

It must have been a blur

Left now bruised and bleeding 

With a broken wing as well

She had no idea

To how far she truly fell.

She dusted herself clean

And tried to fly around

But the moment she took off

She fell back towards the ground

Her left wing would flap frantically 

But the right one wouldn't move

Nature dealt a crushing blow

Of which cruelty approved

Mama bird still had no food 

And she no longer could fly

Could she reach her baby birds 

Or would this be her last goodbye?