Blue Jay

The blue jay is the biggest jerk at my bird feeder.
Not only does he pick away at the seed I leave,
taking only the black, plump sunflower ones,
and scattering the rest to the ground for squirrels to pillage,
but he chases away and shrieks to intimidate
the timid titmouse, the sweet sparrow, and the simple chickadee...
yet I soften to him every time
I see his flashy blue body
alight to a snow covered branch.
Winter is the hardest time to survive.
And so I question his culpability;
perhaps he just knows his is a life
like any other
that matters.

It reminds me, though I'm not sure why,
of a woman I knew who loved to eat artichokes,
but whenever she got to the heart -
that most succulent seed -
she would offer it to someone else.

Why? Did she not think she deserved it?