cluck, cluck (Luke 13:31-35)

surely
      you meant an
   eagle,   majestic
         and soaring above
         mountaintops,
      with an inscrutable eye
           on all below;

or maybe
it was a
      stork, bringing
   good luck (even a baby?)
         to the house
            it visits;

perhaps a
      nightingale,
   singing to cheer our
        solitude;
      an owl,
          imbuing us with
        wisdom;
   the wild goose whose
      dignity belies
          its free spirit . . .

but a chicken? 

   squawking, clucking,
   scrabbling around in the
                      dirt
      for food, gawkily
         flapping her wings,
    while scrabbling about
       to protect her chicks
            who are doing
            everything they
                     can
      to get away from her . . .

. . . that's your image of

            God?

(c) 2013 Thom M. Shuman