THE ABILITY to FLY/Virginia Barrett

in honor of those occupying

the financial district of San Francisco

October, 2011

THE ABILITY to FLY

Gray seagulls lined up

like bankers in suits

along the jagged edge

of the old coastal road

now slipped into the sand.

Wings held tight at their sides

they stare out at the waves

as if trying to ascertain

if the market today

will bring a high yield.

But of course the gulls

know, in their collective

bird-souls, that the ocean

is a continuous flow

of give and take

while the bankers think

(for greed’s greedy sake)

of only the latter—

of take and take.

What a difference

the ability to fly can make.