Notes About The Poem
Shape Shifting Animal, Light-hearted Fantasy Poetry Contest
3/18/2026
Sponsored by: Natasha L. Scragg
The Red Cardinal
I long to shift my skin and take to air,
Become the crimson flash, the whispered call,
Wings stretched in freedom, feathered, light, and rare.
In morning mist, a pulse—my spirit's dare,
The chill of bark beneath, the dawn’s bright thrall.
I long to shift my skin and take to air.
My fingers melt to pinions, fine and fair,
A beak, a crown of red, where shadows fall,
Wings stretched in freedom, feathered, light, and rare.
I leave behind the weight that humans bear,
To soar above the pines at sparrow’s call.
I long to shift my skin and take to air.
The world below recedes—no sorrow there,
Just wind and sun and endless sky enthrall
Wings stretched in freedom, feathered, light, and rare.
So if you glimpse a flash of scarlet flare,
Know once my heart was human, after all.
I long to shift my skin and take to air,
Wings stretched in freedom, feathered, light, and rare.
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