I Could Never Be an Angel of Mercy

By: Kristen Barbour

A bird doing backflips broke its neck after it flew out of my hands
because I was too scared to do it myself
but that’s me, never strong enough to end things when I need to,
leaving the universe no choice but to take matters into its own hands
no matter how strange

I pulled the two red berries out of the bird’s mouth
still choking, gasping for breath,
-blood mixing with salvia
small brown eyes looked at me, waiting for death.

I stretched the wings,
grey and yellow
pulled its legs to examine it, all fine except something within I cannot fix
something I could never know
the same problem with us.

but I held on to it.
I held, and I held.
and carried it,
until it had to give up
and self-destruct.