The Bumblebee Leaves

Free thinking, by nature,
Is trial and error.
The bee caught in the house,

Unlike a panicked bird,
Flies like a free thinker
And will find its way out,

If one window’s open.
Terror and hardwiring
Kill trial and error,

Kill rumination, kill
Tinkering, kill any
Semblance of free thinking—

The fly that pounds the pane,
The bird in the ceiling.
Bats seem to have the knack,

Despite starting out scared.
Give a trapped bat a door
Anywhere in the house,

And so long as the bat
Hasn’t already grown
Enamored of shadows

In a closet in back,
It will find its way out.
There’s nothing elegant,

Nothing obviously
Goal-directed, bumbling
About at medium

Velocity. And who
Would say a bee or bat
Is necessarily

Smarter or a better
Strategist than a bird?
Nonetheless, if you’re prone

To wander and get trapped,
Some calm rumination,
Some tinkering, helps that.