Not Taller At All
Not Taller At All
There were birds in the garden. There were birds in the air.
There were birds on the rooftops. There were birds everywhere.
But one certain blackbird thought he could be best.
He flew to the chimney and sat there to rest.
"Look at me," shouted he. "I am looking at you.
If you were up here, you could look at you, too.
I'm grander than you. I'm so big and so tall.
From up here, the rest of you look very small."
So all the birds looked. They looked up there to see
Just what the big noise was. Oh, what could it be?
They saw the ole bird who thought he was so tall.
They saw where he sat and said nothing at all.
But one little bird didn't like it a bit.
He flew 'round in circles, his small beak in a snit.
"I don't like it," said he. "I don't even like him.
I'll show him. I'll fly to that great big high limb.”
The little bird flew to a perch in the tree.
He looked down below and said, "Hey, look at me!
I'm up here so high, and I'm looking at you.
If you were up here, you could look at you, too!"
He looked at the first bird and hollered, "So what!
Now I am the tallest. I'm tall and you're not."
One bird on the ground said, "They think they're so big.
But what they don't know is we don't give a fig!"
The other birds stood it as long as they could.
They wondered if one of them should, could, or would
Say something to those two who thought they were tall,
And tell them they weren't the two tallest at all.
One bird said, "If you were down here, here with us,
I'd show you there's nothing to make such a fuss."
"You flew way up higher than us. Yes, we saw."
He stopped his tirade, but it stuck in his craw
That those two up there thought that they were so tall,
And they weren't any taller, not taller at all.
Just thinking of it, he continued to stew.
"You're looking at me, but I see you two, too."
And having said that, he said not one word more.
He wanted to say it all seven times more.
The two birds were silent, a little chagrined.
They knew the bird speaking was truly their friend.
"I don't know about you," said one to the other.
"But I know for sure that I'd very much 'druther
Be down there with them. Our real family. Our friends.
The ones who will love us 'til world without end."
"You're right," said the other. "So let's you and I
Fly down there with them, and not sit here up high."
"You know," he continued, "The thing might just be
To just be ourselves. Be just you and me."
They flew to the ground to be with the rest.
They saw for themselves they weren't really the best.
And so it should pass that they figured it out.
They figured it out, what life's really about.
That being up high doesn't make you so tall.
You're still just the same. You're not taller at all.
Copyright © Yvonne Uzzell | Year Posted 2016
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