Away she goes flying
Blood dripping from flapping
She whose Mate died to free
From the tethers of dying
A sacrifice for leprosy
A blight of discoloring sin
One bird was wrung and killed
Other sprinkled at scene
Levitical shadow of substitutionary
Cleansing offering at Calvary
Birds alike in flesh and bone
Speaks of Christ and the Church
He died her sin to atone
Purchased by His dripping blood
Not bound by earth’s gravity
Her transgressions though grave
Cannot keep her grounded
For she rides each thermal wave
Freedom to soar away
From wilderness of woe
Into firmament and space
That fallen bird took her place
This speckled bird stained
Is heckled by plainer birds
She ignores in joyful rapture
Knowing that bloodless birds
Have a flightless future