Bird in the Stove

It was early morning

early morning it was and all quiet

in that kitchen where I was

getting ready for work and

filling my water-bottle and lunch-box when

I suddenly heard that noise and

after some paralysed waiting

tick-tock-the-clock

there again it was:

A flutter of small wings, a

high-frequency stroke of wings and

...it was close...somewhere...inside...

I listened closely and then I realized:

it came out of this ages-old, built-in tiled stove

of this ages old house where I live in:

somewhere out of this huge old-style heating stove

in this ages old house that is

tiled ornamental beautiful but...barely in use these days

A bird must have gotten in there

in there he must have gotten somehow

most likely through some chimney....and trapped

I lay everything down

I lay everything down and closed the doors and

opened a window without a thought and

then opened the heavy cast-iron door of the stove

without a thought, yes

I finally opened that iron door of this ages-old stove and

forth hopped a star-finch:

black the forehead, black the long tail

and it flew to the tables' edge and whipped his

black-but-actually-red tail but

just once and

he did not say a thing at all but

turned his head towards me for a long quiet gaze and

again I heard that high-frequency flutter

and out the window he flew

I should have opened that cast-iron door earlier

but first you need to be quiet and listen

and hear the desperate moves of a bird that got trapped

and when it is time then you need to be ready

...ready to change schedule

....ready to change a life