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Fatima’s Bird
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There among fragile homes
of wood, card, nylon,
is Fatima with her bird.
7 years and 7 months
of never being sure.
“If he dies so do I.
But he has kept me alive,
comes everywhere with me.”
She grips the cage,
the bird her heart flutters.
He is her family, her friend.
perhaps he senses, shrieks
at threats from above.
She will never let go.
Even night-time he’s there :
a guide for her dreams,
a flight from her nightmares.
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