A Red Cardinal in a Green Arboretum

A red cardinal got trapped

In a green arboretum

Among the lacy fern

And blush cacti flowers

It flew in a desperation

Unique to all animals

Who can sense death

Then the red cardinal spied

A man-made creek

With fattened koi

A precarious bridge

And a cheap Grecian statue

So it drank and made

Its prison into a home

It learned it can live

Off of tiny tangerines

Produced in the Asian pavilion

And ripened crab apples

From North America

Soon the cardinal forgot

That there was a world it once knew

One with sunlight

Dewy earth worms

Domestic cats on the prowl

The dome glass walls

Became its home

Is there even a life worth living

Outside of them?

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