A woman lies in a wide bed under a green quilt, imagining herself as a wounded bird resting on a pool. She has been struck in the breast but not killed. The injury leaves her still and grounded, though she keeps insisting she is “not dreadfully hurt.” Visitors arrive with baskets of leftover food, proud of their generosity, but they only offer bread and crumbs—nourishment for the body, not what she actually longs for. At night she grows quieter and more frightened. The pool she rests on feels as if it might rise and drown her. What she wants is not more food but the freedom to lift her wings and keep gazing at two distant stars. The mood is tender, claustrophobic, and gently ironic: well-meaning people miss the real hunger. The poem holds together fragility and stubborn desire, like a bird too hurt to fly but still watching the sky.
The Wounded Bird — Summary
In the wide bed Under the green embroidered quilt With flowers and leaves always in soft motion She is like a wounded bird resting on a pool.
The hunter threw his dart And hit her breast,-- Hit her but did not kill. “O my wings, lift me--lift me! I am not dreadfully hurt!” Down she dropped and was still.
Kind people come to the edge of the pool with baskets. “Of course what the poor bird wants is plenty of food!” Their bags and pockets are crammed almost to bursting With dinner scrapings and scraps from the servants’ lunch. Oh! how pleased they are to be really giving! “In the past, you know you know, you were always so fly-away. So seldom came to the window-sill, so rarely Shared the delicious crumbs thrown into the yard. Here is a delicate fragment and here a tit-bit As good as new. And here’s a morsel of relish And cake and bread and bread and bread and bread.”
At night, in the wide bed With the leaves and flowers Gently weaving in the darkness, She is like a wounded bird at rest on a pool. Timidly, timidly she lifts her head from her wing In the sky there are two stars Floating, shining ... O waters--do not cover me! I would look long and long at those beautiful stars! O my wings--lift me--lift me! I am not so dreadfully hurt ...