DISCLAIMER: This poem is based on characters and situations based on the book 'To Kill a Mockingbird', created and owned by Harper Lee and owned by various publishers. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

I Thought

I thought you were scary

I thought you meant me harm

I screamed when I thought I saw you

Got goosebumps on my arm

I thought you were a murderer

A criminal at least

Untamed and savage

Like some crazy wild beast

I thought you would attack me

If I ever came too near

But not once did I think

Maybe there's nothing to fear

I thought you were a monster

But I guess that I thought wrong

You were just a mockingbird

With an almost silent song

Broken by all the years you spent

Shut up in your birdhouse

Kept captive in your own home

Kept quiet as a mouse

One day you came out

And only then could I truly see

How different you were

From who I thought you to be

I thought you would be ugly

I thought you'd be insane

But instead you saved my life

And you were beautiful and tame

I have no way to repay you

For what you've given, mockingbird

All I have to give you

Is a little girl's word

That I will never again judge

On only what I've heard

And I will never, ever

shoot a mockingbird