A Defiant Fool

Inspired by Aesop’s poem: The Eagle & The Jackdaw 

What crime has the jackdaw committed

To be scoffed at and made mockery of? 

Was it his admiration for the mighty eagle?
Was it his courage to test the strength of his wings? 

“Why not me?” The jackdaw asked, without flinching. 

And yet he was clipped down,
dragged through the Shepherd’s laughter 

As if the ground he crashed into
Was proof he belonged there. 

But no, the jackdaw’s only mistake
was to believe
He could be more than what he was born as 

It was never about failure
It was about threat
The shepherd found the jackdaw’s courage
“Foolish”
Because courage in small things shames the small-hearted. 

The jackdaw: a true defiant. 

Tricia Lois writes as a celebration of aliveness, the odd, the aching and the in-between. She lives among a stack of half-read books and writes for the sheer joy of it. Her favourite things to write live in the small and meek details of daily life.