Once upon a time I heard,
About a strange and scary bird.
Who'd take you off to distant places
Then leave you there with different faces. 

I look upon a mirror,
at the bruise on my face.
It matches the others,
like the one in a more private place.

In a land of poverty,
I join the other kids at work.
My parents get the money,
the earnings for me making plastic forks.

My mom goes to wash homes for a fee,
and its at these times I most fear.
My dad at this time will touch me,
not caring that I shed tears.

Mother knows of what goes on,
she knows what happens when she is gone.
Instead of getting help or coming to my aid.
She sees a new future for me I am afraid.

I always tried to be kind,
I always try to be nice.
Everyone here is of a similar mind,
with bitter and mean hearts like ice.

Oh how I wish to leave,
how I wish to be gone like a sneeze.
To have a family that loves me,
a land where one can be free.

At night I sleep on clay,
where I rest and I pray.
I pray for a savior to come,
to end my life of eating just crumbs.

There is a loud crash outside,
the sound to have awoken the dead.
My mom and dad still lay on their sides,
as if the noise never reached their heads.

I looked outside through the door,
and nearly screamed in horror.
With a height that was absurd,
towering in the street was a large and scary bird.

It had feathers like leather,
Its claws the width of my shoulders.
It's tail was like a peacock's,
with plumage a flaming red like molten rock.

It had a neck like giraffe,
but it moved like an elephant's trunk.
It shivered like a new born calf,
It had an odor that stunk.

It's head was like a man's face,
a large black beak where the nose was replaced.
Its eye's were like a cat's with a yellow taint,
and staring at it I felt I would faint.

Instead of feather's on its head,
there was long matted hair.
What was once blond was now dead,
there was no sign of treatment or care.

Filled with terror I could not flee,
I think I may have even made a pee.
My worries now went to the beating I would get,
for when my mother sees my pants and throw a fit.

The bird was then right in front of me,
we was now face to face.
It heard my thoughts and of that I could guarantee,
just as it snatched me up and flew me off into space.

I screamed and yelled in fear,
but the scary bird did not care.
I watched my home disappear,
my ears grew frost from the oh so cold air.

The bird then let go,
I fell but it was slow.
I landed outside of a mansion,
with a yard and a gorgeous flower garden.

The bird landed behind,
pushing me to look inside.
I peered in through a window,
and there in a chair was a widow.

Behind her was a daughter,
who did not care for having lost a father.
They were rich and that was all that mattered,
she played with her dolls as the mom's heart was shattered.

The girl was my age,
and I could not understand her.
She had such a wonderful life full of privilege,
and yet she lived life as nothing more than a burr.

I knew all that she knew,
I knew that her dad's name was Stew.
She did not miss him at all,
all she cared about was what to name her new doll.

She only cried like her mom for toys,
the girl would wail and stomp around in the store.
This was all just a ruse and a ploy,
for she knew they had lots of money and even more.

Such a wasted life I thought,
as the bird picked me back up.
The child could do anything and be schooled and taught,
but she uses it all for selfishness and toy pups and cups.

Once more we flew,
I shivered and hurt as the coldness grew.
We zipped over mountains and lakes,
I was too amazed to consider if this were all fake.

I was then dropped into a place of snow,
my body shivered from my head to my toes.
Before me was another great house,
I went to look inside as the bird ate a mouse.

I looked upon a room full of warmth,
Both from the love of the family and the fire in the hearth.
A mother and father with loving care,
their children who wore clean clothes and fine groomed hair.

There was a son who sat upon the man's lap,
a boy my age and again whose mind I tapped.
Once more I knew what this child knew,
and not all this love within was true.

The father was a criminal and a producer of drugs,
he made his fortunes through misdeeds and the death of fellow thugs.
The family all knew this and did not fret,
they were happy for their dad and far from upset.

The son would inherit all this,
and for this he could not wait.
It was clear to me that one day the love would go amiss,
the dad would be killed and the son would take over the estate.

I once more stood in confusion,
nearly succumbing to hate.
Why must a family with such a loving fusion,
be built on death and destined such a fate.

As bad as my life has been,
I am thankful not to be here.
To grow up within love made of sin,
my soul and well being in constant fear.

I felt the claws upon me just as I had this thought,
the house becoming nothing more than a dot.
I was flown over an ocean,
the rolling waves making me queasy with their motion.

As we flew at speeds beyond my reasoning,
I feared for what might be in store was deepening.
This bird was just being mean,
Showing horrible people with lives I see as obscene.

The bird showed me more,
and the more I saw the more my heart tore.
Each place a dream come true,
with a child my age whose view on life was askew.

Why was the bird showing me these peers,
all full of happiness and cheers.
Children my age full of filth and hate,
children with no care or thought of their futures or fate.

Privileged all of them were kept,
with nice big homes and warm beds where they slept.
Yet all were spoiled and all were brats,
there was even one who enjoyed kicking cats.

I also did not envy them or their lives,
as much as I had hoped to be rescued from my own.
I was thankful to not be born of such hives,
even if I home made me groan.

I now wished that the bird would hurry,
to hurry and finish this mean tour.
All of these places made me weary,
and the cold air made my muscles and head sore.

As if in answer to this thought,
the bird let go and onto the new destination I plopped.
This house though was unlike the ones before,
for it was in a suburb and was a bore.

I watched from the dark,
seeing mother and father who cared.
The housing was quite simple and stark,
the bills were paid but not much left to visit the fairs.

The father worked two jobs to pay the bills,
the mother stayed at home to care for the kids.
None wore the latest trends but it kept away the chills,
they were all clean and none had any skids.

The family was all happy and loved one another,
all except for one of my age rather.
Of course the one my age was not like the rest,
this was yet another of the bird's mean test.

However this child was somehow worse,
worse than those cruel kids before him.
This one was not born with a full purse,
this child had no reason or cause to live as them.

Yet he did act just as spoiled and vile,
he was hurtful and mean to his brothers and sisters.
He begged for new toys that just later went into a pile,
causing the father to work harder and gain more blisters.

Yet the parents still loved him for he was of their blood,
he'd get new clothes and then stain them with mud. 
The boy hated being poor even if they were not,
he go to a good school and all he did was fought.

This to me was so unfair,
I could not watch as he refused to share.
This boy had no reason or cause,
he was selfish and cruel just because.

I would have loved to have his life,
to have loving siblings and a father with his wife.
This was my dream home and this boy has it,
with this nice family for whom he did not fit.

The claws were on me again,
Much more fierce than normal.
I was shot out into the sky in pain,
just more to add to a night that's been most informal.

I was flown much higher,
through a cloud that was whiter.
Then before me was a land I could never dream,
with blue fields, purple lakes, and strangling trees.

It was as scary as it was beautiful,
as we flew over queer crops that looked bountiful.
There were creatures of  nightmares abut the land,
some that even the scary bird could not look at and withstand.

I then saw a great tree of fir,
its top widening like no other I seen before.
At its top was the bird’s home and nest,
and here I was dropped and it left.

So this was where my end will be,
in a land full of monsters and horrid fir trees
I just wish it would be quick,
I was so glad my flame was near the end of its wick.

There was a scream from above,
the bird had return looking like a hellish dove.
In its claws was the boy from the last house,
the bird was holding the child like one would a louse.

The boy dropped into the nest with a cracking thud,
and before I could react the bird attacked him in a spray of blood.
I shrieked as I saw the bird tear off the boy's face,
then remove his skin in a quick ferocious pace.

Before I consider to run,
the bird snagged me like a cat to a baby bun.
I felt my face tear and peel off my head,
the skin ripped off  a whole as I wish I was dead.

It's claws tore and sliced my bare muscle,
it's beak removed my eyes and broke my bones.
The bird was working fast and in a hustle,
all the while I endured and groaned.

Something then wrapped over my pained flesh,
it was hot and wet and clung to me like a mesh.
I felt everything in me then begin to mend,
all the pain went away as my mind begun to descend.

I awoke in a bed that was not mine,
in a bedroom with a brother I never knew.
I got out of bed and felt fine,
I wore clean pajamas made of blue.

I went to the bathroom in the house that was not my own,
and yet I knew where it was along with my own toothbrush.
I saw in the mirror I was no longer who I had known,
for I had the face of the spoiled boy I last saw blood gush.

I now had the home of my dreams,
a home rife with love to the seams.
A house that boy squandered and abused,
a house full of happiness that I was not going to refuse.

I would quickly grow to forget my horrible past,
one I knew the spoiled boy had to now endure.
I felt guilty for such a forced recast,
but this is soon to be forgotten for sure.

Years have now past,
I now have a family of my own.
The love I have I hope will last,
but one child is bad to the bone.

So I tell of once upon a time I heard,
About a strange and scary bird.
Who'd take you off to distant places
Then leave you there with different faces.