Not So Easy, Saving Sentient Beings
        Sentient beings are numberless; I vow to save them
                —Buddhist vow

When I drank, many people
tried to get me to quit.
When I drank, I drank the way
I see a frantic cardinal smash
into our living-room window:
full beak-and-body slam
against the glass, again and again.
Each time he drops, as if shot,
onto the grass, wobbles back
to his branch, flies at the window.
My bird book says he attacks
his own reflection. If I cannot
distract him with tinfoil, waves,
shouts, he might finally
meet the delusional goal
he's set: kill someone, kill
the enemy—himself, it seems.

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Copyright © 2020 Lisa Bellamy All rights reserved
from The Northway
Terrapin Books
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission