Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?
Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.
Even all the hairs of your head are counted.
So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
—Matthew 10:26-33
We feel it in our marrow,
this sadness in us curled:
that the falling of a sparrow
is the breaking of the world.
And oh! How many sparrows!
How many broken wings!
How many slings and arrows!
How many serpent stings!
Yet not a one escapes you
or falls beyond your sight.
How precious in your tables,
our dropping into night!
For you, O God, are jealous
and hoard each sparrow’s breath:
You do not let your treasures
unseen go down to death,
and when our flying ceases,
and when we fall to earth,
the weight of death increases
that waits for our new birth.
But now that weight you carry,
your fingers gently curled
around the fallen sparrow,
around the broken world.
Bruno Liljefors – House sparrows among the thorns (1886) – Bukowskis, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=138306035
Kate Bluett 