THE EAGLE'S LAMENT
            or
        "LOOK MOMMY, A BIRDIE!"
            Ethan Collings
                c. 1/19/98
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Me? A birdie? Insidious child!
To burden me with misnomer mild.
Can you not see my plumage shine?
My talons sharp?  My beauty sublime?
My wings have tasted mountain air,
My claws the flesh of boar and bear!
Little child, so meek and shallow,
You would quiver at my shadow.

Well... so my feathers need some Pledge(c)*
I never nest on craggy ledge.
No boar, nor bear has felt my claw.
My word is not the forest's law.
In melancholy mood I flounder,
With nothing to watch but the check out counter.
I'm a fake, I'm a phony, a horrible chump.
And yes, I admit it, I once was a stump.


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