I don’t have a lot of regrets in life. Still, one of the stupidest and cruelest things I ever did was as a kid when I shot dead with a BB gun a bunch of birds hanging out in a tree in my yard. I am not sure when regret set in, but this memory today serves as a reminder of all the unnecessary death inflicted on fellow beings. May we have the courage to be kind in all situations. May we not be chicken, even when that inescapable law of life and death — you are what you eat — leaves us, killing for no purpose but sport.
A Confession: For the Birds
12 year old boy
Aim true
But not today
17 birds
Fall to the ground
Without a man’s remembrance
Only fated regret
Of cruelty
For the birds
