Market Sparrow



Watching the wonderful world as I dart through the sky,

Flying between head loaders as tired men pass by.

No mountain or meadow, just rooftops so high,

I live as they labour, a sparrow nearby.


Meandering over market stalls, bold and precise,

I pick at the nuts on the ground, grains of rice.

From torn-open sacks where survival’s the price,

Dignity, they say, is found in honest sacrifice.


On Sundays and holidays, markets slow down,

No wages for men when the shutters come down.

Yet crumbs still lie waiting, scattered around,

Hope, whispers the street, can still be found.


But firing breaks out and the workers all run,

Revolt shakes the street, day’s earning undone.

Violence diverts both their lives and my sun,

Hate,learns the alley, leaves no one won.


So speed, bonny sparrow, through clamour and fear,

Like men chasing work when no certainty’s near.

We trust what appears, however unclear,

Courage,says hunger, is showing up here.


At night by the street lamps, the city lays bare,

I rest in cracked covers, they linger in glare.

Thieves test the shadows, soft steps everywhere,

She beauties move past with practiced care.


Dogs bark at the darkness, at footsteps unseen,

Police make their visits, cold lights flash and gleam.

Sleep comes in fragments, restless and lean,

Justice, sighs the night, must first be humane.


I nest in the berth of old buildings and beams,

They curl in the corners with unfinished dreams.

Concrete our clouds, broken wiring our streams,

No dream, says the dust, is ever too mean.


Bathing in street-water, puddled and brown,

They wash weary hands when the night settles down.

We shed all the weight that this hard town has found,

Clean hearts, learn the poor, need little ground.


But where I am bound, well, I haven’t a clue,

Nor do daily wage men when morning is new.

Yet wings must keep beating, loads lifted too,

Life, says the sparrow, moves forward through you.


So speed, bonny sparrow, through life’s thin compliance,

Through hunger and night and watched-over silence.

Man and bird share one truth in defiance:

To endure with kindness is the bravest resistance.


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