Trapped

Black wings flapping uselessly,
Struggling brings exhaustion.
A morning flight for worms
Has left the crow trapped,
His foot caught between a
Roof siding and a wooden plank.
Unable to fall to the ground,
Unable to fly into the air,
Hanging there to die,
As the sun slowly rose up.

Too high up for a hungry cat,
And worthless for a
Gun-toting human,
To come and end his misery,
With either a broken neck,
Or an easy shot from a .22.
Flapping his wings,
He cut his foot,
On the metal siding.

As the blood came down his leg,
And onto his weakening body,
His sharp mind came up with a plan.
It was desperate, and painful,
But it was his only chance,
At life, and freedom.

Flapping his wings,
And grasping with his good foot,
He fought to grab the roof edge.
Metal cutting into his leg,
Severing skin and sinew,
And breaking hollow bone.

His mate comes,
And sees his distress.
Together, the pair is
Able to snap his foot off,
And get him to the safety
Of the nest they made together,
Where he can live his life,
In freedom from the roof.

This poem is based on a true story. On the morning of 6/15/2012, I went outside to go to work, when I heard a crow cawing loudly. Looking up, I saw the crow, with its foot trapped between a roof siding, and a wooden plank on the roof of the barn by my place. Sadly, I was unable to do anything, as the bird was trapped 40 feet up, and I was short on a ladder to climb up, a long stick to free the bird, and time to get the items needed. However, when I came home, the crow was gone. Due to the lack of a body, or feathers, on the ground, I can safely surmise that the bird, possibly with the help of its mate, which was flying around at the time it was trapped, managed to get free, and taken a fair distance away, possibly to their nest.