Sloth

The Smallest Bird was 


Sloth.  

While the others vied for power
,

Sloth could not be bothered. 

He refused to grow in stature, 

instead he honed his energy on

escaping the carrion's glower. 

In fact so tiny was his
 form 

and so easily 
was he missed 


he neither flew on 
his own wing 

nor
 hunted his own grist.

 

He kept himself perfectly still 


until the watcher's eye grew
 bored,   


then slowly ever so 


he would latch onto 
another 

bird and 
ride as if a lord. 



He was a trickster of 
another sort


 using no slight 
of hand 


It was by doing 
the very least 


that he took grew to take 
command.



The toll of this 
was very high
 

and of course it
 brought him 
low

. 

He had no choice 
as to what he ate
 

nor where he chose
 to go

.

Too weak to hold 
himself aloft 


he was sure to 
someday tumble. 


His body was too 
soft, 


his achievements
 too 
humble.