The Silver Cage

See do I with simple heart a single silver cage,
Seen as highest pedestal throughout many a grand age,
Encrusted and engraved with richness and with spoils,
The product of much sacrifice and many great men’s foils,

Within the cage a single bird whose name is not yet known,
Born as creature fairest her beauty has but grown,
Glorious and graceful this fair child does spread her wings,
And seen is she as goddess who only blessings bring,

But bound is she by silver bars which hang from highest beam,
Trapped in her surroundings so her light can naught but gleam,
But see this bird does not beyond her gold encasings,
Anything that roams bellow is far beyond her daring’s,

For in that cage is set a thing which her eyes they never leave,
So graceful and glorious she thinks her mind it must deceive,
For placed against her jewel laid cage is there a mirror set,
Which in the bird’s fair mind and eye leaves no room for regret,

See can she not the pigeons grey which flock and swarm around,
Nor the black and clever crows who watch her from the ground,
Those who praise and those who hate are both by her ignored,
All except their beady eyes whose continued gaze is by her so implored,

See can she in every eye another grand reflection,
And alone in every eye can she see a comprehension,
That she is indeed a goddess who looks on all bellow,
After time they do still stare and their eyes they do not mellow,

Soon the mirror will be gone and the silver fade away,
And then the bird will realize the lesson of that day,
The eyes of many hundreds may so fill your heart with rapture,
But they will not give your wings the wind they need to capture

By Richard Herring

(Age 17)