Ministry of Animals

There is a cardinal is in the kiln room.

Yelling at me, but not listening.

We gently chase each other around,

I begin to panic too.

Empathy is a two way street.

How can i help, if we are both too scared to listen?

“Bird, for Heaven’s sake the door is open, right over there -“

and my hand raises in a big gesture of exasperation, toward freedom.

She stops for a moment,

sits on the kiln handle and looks at me.

then flies out the door and up into a tree.

We all want freedom,

but we are too scared to see the open door.

Somedays we all need someone to at least point the way.

Sometimes, we need to stop for a moment and see if anyone is pointing……….