The Caged Bird and the Bat°

Outside a window hung a cage

In which a bird was confined.

A neighboring bat was wondering if

The bird had lost her mind.

 

During the day when other birds sang,

She wouldn't make a peep.

But every night she sang her heart out

While the rest were asleep.

 

One evening, the bat paid her a visit

To check out the situation,

Hoping that they'd be able to

Engage in conversation.

 

"Lovely bird," he said, "I feel

That something isn't right.

Why can't you sing during the day

Instead of only at night?"

 

"I used to sing the whole day through,

But when the fowler heard

My beautiful voice, he said to himself,

'I must catch that bird,'

 

She said. "And so he caught me with nets

And stuck me in this thing.

From that point on, during the daytime

I have refused to sing."

 

The bat replied, "My lovely friend,

Please do not be sore,

But that won't help you at all right now,

Although it might have before.

 

"Before you became a prisoner--

When you could perch in a tree--

If you had sung only at night,

Maybe you'd still be free."

 

Of course, the story has a moral:

Precautions are truly great,

But they are utterly useless when

They are applied too late.

 

-by Bob B (8-9-21)

 

°An Aesop fable retold here in verse

Reviews

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

I always enjoy reading the work you put out Bob. It's so funny with such important messages behind them. Keep churning out your art and we will continue to read them.

[Bob B]

Thanks. I enjoy converting simple fables with multiple meanings into verse.