Outside a window hung a cage
In which a bird was confined.
A neighboring bat was wondering if
The bird had lost her mind.

During the day when other birds sang,
She wouldn't make a peep.
But every night she sang her heart out
While the rest were asleep.

One evening, the bat paid her a visit
To check out the situation,
Hoping that they'd be able to
Engage in conversation.

"Lovely bird," he said, "I feel
That something isn't right.
Why can't you sing during the day
Instead of only at night?"

"I used to sing the whole day through,
But when the fowler heard
My beautiful voice, he said to himself,
'I must catch that bird,'

She said. "And so he caught me with nets
And stuck me in this thing.
From that point on, during the daytime
I have refused to sing."

The bat replied, "My lovely friend,
Please do not be sore,
But that won't help you at all right now,
Although it might have before.

"Before you became a prisoner--
When you could perch in a tree--
If you had sung only at night,
Maybe you'd still be free."

Of course, the story has a moral:
Precautions are truly great,
But they are utterly useless when
They are applied too late.

-by Bob B (8-9-21)

°An Aesop fable retold here in verse