Blackbird Jungle

                        Blackbird Jungle



                             If I were a bird
                             it would be a blackbird;
                             not majestic like the eagle,
                             not a singer like the nightingale,
                             not quite as low as the vulture,
                             somewhere in between.

                             That's the way
                             I thought of myself as a youth,
                             maybe, occasionally, I still do now.
                             The rebel, although contained, is still there.
                             "A rebel without a clue,"1
                             simmering just below the surface,
                             ever vigilant that someone
                             will try to cage him.

                             I remember our gang
                             (leather jackets and jeans)
                             from the wrong side of the tracks,
                             hanging around the neighborhood,
                             squabbling amongst ourselves,
                             looking for something to do
                             to ease the boredom.

                             It was something,
                             not necessarily productive,
                             but, nothing so terribly wrong,
                             just teenaged mischief, that's about all.
                             I guess it goes on everywhere
                             there are teenagers.
                             It always will.

Footnotes
1  From the song, "Into The Great Wide Open", with lyrics by Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne, sung by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.