Gesture

At a temple in Bangkok

you can purchase a living dove

for less than you’d think,

but the idea is not

to keep it, as pet or meal,

but to free it,

as gesture, such pure joy

in symbolism, you think,

until you come to learn

the bird is trained

and will return later

to be paid for

and released again. The cynic

in you says, enough

of gestures, but this one

is more profound than you might think,

for when it comes to freedom,

the down payment is cheap and easy.

It’s the installments that kill you.