On Foley Square a songbird sings

by Lillian Pollack

The Square – slabs of concrete
Cobbled streets, medieval arches, forlorn dusty parks
Bleak citadels of justice

In these great halls
knowing righteous laws
fear destroys reason
Harsh sentence are pronounced
Innocent actions become
Punishable crimes

Here a bird sings

Legendary – like the Kuninglin-
Who hid in the plumage of an eagle
And soared above him to heaven.
A wren
Known for strong songs
That floods the skies

This a warm-blooded, two legged,
Feathered vertebrate
Plump – gray, sandy-haired
With a fearless grin
Is shut away
A bird who sings only in daylight
Her notes loud and clear
Round crystal globules of sweet sound
Pour through the black bars
Singing of innocence of wrong-doing
Pure of any intent
Only desire to do good
And kindness

We must hear her
She must not be ignored
Her song of sympathy
for all those oppressed,
misjudged, falsely accused
Wafts through the air
Telling us of the meaning of our existence
Empathy for all that lives
Gentleness…

We must hear her message
Above the crushing litany of law
That stifles her voice

If justice ignores her song
We cannot survive
If we forget humanity
we will not survive
Listen…….

About the Author

Born in Hell’s Kitchen, NYC 1915, Lillian Pollack became a radical at sixteen, raised three kids, earned two graduate degrees at night and taught school for twenty-five years. Still active, she?s now a Raging Granny marching and singing for peace.In The Sweetest Dream a lively, romantic, historical novel, Miriam and Ketzel, two pretty, feisty women, seek love and their own identity. Involved in the Communist Party, supporters of Leon Trotsky, they are unfortunately, unwitting companions of his assassin. The time is the thirties – the Great Depression, the rich flowering of the arts, the sit-down strikes, the Spanish Civil War. Eventually, the women grow to realize, despite disappointing love affairs and disastrous world events, Trotsky’s great message: “Life is beautiful – Live it to the fullest.”