Little blue bird sat on the soil
Watching the others atop the tree,
Gathered together, happy
Singing their redbird song and dancing,
Eating the best worms in the land
When can I go up there, sister? She would ask
They have everything I could ever want
They don’t like us here, little blue bird
We’re different
Little blue bird remembered the day they came
She was perched on the tree, the one that her family
And all the little blue bird families had lived on before
Where her grandmothers taught her to cook
Where her mother taught her bird etiquette
And her aunties taught her traditional song and dance
She looked toward the sky, the canvas she had found so peaceful
The canvas that exemplified the beauty of home
The beauty of love and family
The beauty of welcoming
Was now swarmed with red, fiery feathers
Of those who had never been before
They began to land, each creature making his presence known
This is our new home one said to the other
We must get these little blue birds out
These little blue birds have no business on our land
It is for the better anyway
They began to horde the tree, throwing nests to the ground
Baby blue birds crying for their mothers, mother blue birds crying for their babies
Echoes of the redbirds rang out
This is quite a discovery, don’t you think, redbird?
Yes, redbird… what a land
It became their land, their traditions, their new life
With any semblance of the blue birds before erased
Little blue bird asked her sister every day the same questions:
If I painted my feathers red, could I go up there?
If I chirped like the redbirds, could I go up there?
If I fetched for them the best worms, could I go up there?
If I behaved my very best, could I go up there?
All of these answered with a resounding no
Little blue bird was left wishing each and every moment that she could be one thing
the thing that could truly set her free
A redbird
