A Swallow in my hand

[ChipTee]

Here's a sonnet written last year.

A SWALLOW IN MY HAND

Today I had a swallow in my hand,
its silky sheen of blue and black
within my grasp. Just one from out the band
of fledgling chicks, gape-fed, still hanging back
to crouch beside their nest across the beam.
A day went past before they launched and flew
save one small bird, dropped from their team,
to press against the window pane, not through
to sky, but tangled in the spider’s den.
I heard the noise and took it to the light
a while it sat upon my hand and then
flew off, at first uncertain shaky flight,
but next in wheeling arcs it soared away
its sweeping flight my huge reward today.

Hope you like it, Chip

[Lin]

As a birdwatcher I fully appreciated this poem.   I wasn't sure about the small case letters at the beginning of each line.   Should you have capitals for the beginning of each verse?

I have often released injured wildlife back into the wild and nothing can match those feelings of freedom and content.

Lin
Moderator

[ChipTee]

Thanks Lin, glad it rang a bell.
Yes, capitals begiining each line is the usual convention, but with this I preferred to use prose capitalisation ie at beginning each sentence. The ms I pasted from was set out centered rather than left aligned and it may have been easier on the eye/reading.
Chip