Ah, Miss (1863)
Christine sat within the window of her bedroom in the big house on Keary's Lane, staring wistfully at the street below at the people passing on the sidewalk in front of the fence that shut the house off from the rest of the world. she was a prisoner in her home, she was a dove stuck in a damask, dark cage with many rooms and a man with an grip like iron. she did not choose to live with her father's brother, who was stern and cold to her. he was a man of north, not having time for his niece's silly feminine inquires and needs. the only person Christine liked in the house were the servants, and her Aunt, who always brought Christine beautiful gowns and things like that
down the street, she saw the bird vendor coming, with his tall pole of chirping and twittering birds. oh, how she loved those birds! getting to be free and sold away to a person that would love and take care of them. as he came closer so opened the window, leaning out of it to call to the man below, whose name was Charles, no last name needed. when he saw her he came over with a big grin, and leaned the pole over the fence so she could get a better view of the birds "oh, and how are they today!?" she asked cheerfully, touching the cages 'same as always, Miss Christine!' called Charles, letting her play with the birds.
Christine sighed and took a small porcelain rouge pot out that was filled with birdseed. she held it out to a pretty Green Finch in a brass cage and he pecked at it, gobbling each grain with such a vigorous manner that she thought he never ate. "oh, how I wish I was bird and I could just fly away..." she thought of a song that she used to sing in childhood when she felt sad or afraid, her father taught it too her and she kept it with her always as a remembrance for him
'Green finch and linnet bird, Nightingale, blackbird, How is it you sing? How can you jubilate, Sitting in cages, Never taking wing? Outside the sky waits, Beckoning, beckoning, Just beyond the bars. How can you remain, Staring at the rain, Maddened by the stars? How is it you sing Anything?'
her voice was heavenly, sounding as if god and the angels blessed her with the very voice of heaven it's self, it a word it was seraphic.
and, apparently, it caught the attention of a young man who stopped to hear the song.
