Killing Mockingbirds

Killing mockingbirds
They ran out of firepower
And laid her to rest
Something I have to say
To get off my chest
You shouldn’t kill anything like this
Heavy artillery, sophisticated bigotry
A showman’s frenzy, all cleverly interject
Reasons to kill and to cage
They’re certainly strange
Nevertheless, a piece for each
Take what you can preach
Taken from a throbbing chest
Before they lay her to rest

It’s a lesson to teach
Killing mockingbirds is a sin
It’s not how you say it
Nor how you mean it
But how you show it
All mockingbirds know this
It’s a shame this is even said
You can see it in how they broke it
Deep is the punishment
It’s a capital crime, feathers show it
To pick on something so small
With a heart for all
Take it, you men boasting virtue,
In disregard that in all fairness is her’s too

By all means it’s a shame
We all know it’s a sin, so
Firepower to threaten, power to show
Caged wings that forfeit to sing
Little light of thine, let it shine
It’s a low blow, sing her hymn slow
But how deep does a bird’s punishment go?
The measurement’s quite precise,
Too deep to really know…
As bigot, showman, great leader,
Educated elitist and their teachers
All turned it into an art
But quiet murder like this out to be a sin
When it’s at the cost
Of mockingbird’s singing heart

From: Poems From BlueSuburbia.