Wishes

Cop’s gun
it has six bullets
cop has five fingers
uses one to fire the gun
gun and bullets
have no wishes

Protester has no gun
has no bullets
his left and right hands
both have five fingers
five wishes concealed in the right hand
five demands clenched in the left

Magpie pigeon and sparrow
under the open sky
neither sow nor reap
don’t gather into the barns
birds have just one wish
to beat their wings upon the wind
on a day without tear gas
to soar and spiral
in full view of the untrammeled sky