To live life an animal
Must be far less complicated
Than this life as a human.

Next time,
Perhaps I’ll be a bear
So I can sleep through the lonely winter to be reborn
In the innocent spring.

Or maybe a fish.
I will swim all my days
Downstream I shall go.

Could I be a lion?
Proud and powerful
No less noble than you or I.

What about a snake,
Slithering silently
Seeing all but never being seen.

Suppose a dog,
Loyal and loved,
Never hungry or misunderstood.

All these creatures are fine,
Far better than I,
But the answer is obvious.
I would be a bird
And I’d fly away.