augury found in the smallest of things

a bird flew into our house today
all I saw was a blur of feathers
and then it was there
stunned on the window sill
frantic for escape from a space
as alien to its life as the inside
of a tralfamadorian battlecruiser
it looked at me with fear in its eye
out of instinct rather than true recognition
I took a sheet from the bedroom
and threw it over the sparrow where
it beat its wings against the glass
holding my breath I walked outside
with the bundle and gently shook it
before watching the wayward traveller
take once more to the sky.

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NB While not direct influences on this poem, I would like to mention two posts by other bloggers I read recently, which have no doubt informed my own writing in this piece, even if only unconsciously. The first is an interview with John W Howell, where he talks about his admiration for Kurt Vonnegut’s writing (http://khmazzola.wordpress.com/2013/08/26/interview-with-john-w-howell/). The connection being the mention of Tralfamadorian in my poem, which is an obvious reference to the alien species Kurt Vonnegut writes of in a number of his works. And second I wish to draw attention to Dina Honour’s post Flying Lessons (http://wineandcheesedoodles.com/2013/09/04/flying-lessons/) just because it’s so brilliant, mostly. But also because of the shared theme of flight in our two posts. Might I just add that a bird really did fly into our house this afternoon (and that was my primary source of inspiration) if there is still anybody reading at this point…phew!