Richard Schnap - Endangered Species / Cage of Night

Endangered Species

She was a caged bird
Her wings atrophied
By a predator’s shadow

Singing to herself
A lament in a language
From an extinct age

While passersby snickered
As if she was a specimen
In a museum’s diorama

Or a sideshow attraction
In a realm of mannequins
With assembly line dreams

Cage of Night

She dressed all in black
To match the dark shadow
Currently in fashion

Advertised on the covers
Of check-out line magazines
That chronicled the latest trends

There was one in particular
That depicted celebrities
In the vestments of priests

Who promoted life styles
Derived from a bible
Whose pages were blank

But deep in her heart
Was a secret star
That she kept to herself

For a time to come
When the wind would change
And the sky would open again

Richard Schnap is a poet, songwriter and collagist living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His poems have most recently appeared locally, nationally and overseas in a variety of print and online publications.