A Sparrow with a Broken Wing

I felt like a sparrow with broken wing

In the dust at the side of the road,

Wounded, abandoned, ready to die,

Hungry, starving and cold,

I watched the wheels of the traffic rush by,

The world was too busy for me,

My life was worthless, nothing to them,

But the pain! “Let me die!” was my plea.

But then I heard a piercing cry,

“Daddy, look at that little bird!”

Her father kicked me under the hedge,

“It’ll only die!” was his word,

“Please let me take it home!” she said,

“No! It’s dirty, it’s broken its wing!”

He dragged her away, I was left in dismay,

A helpless, hopeless thing.

The hours passed by, my tears ran dry

As dusk settled over the world,

But then an excited cry, “It was here!”

‘Twas the cry of that same little girl:

She’d brought her mother to rescue this wretch

She gingerly picked me up,

She placed me inside a box she’d prepared

And took me home to sup.

She gave me drink, she gave me food,

She gave me such tender care,

She straightened my wing, she kept me warm,

Such love I could hardly bear!

And day after day she tended me so,

I felt so ashamed of my state,

I couldn’t repay her – just what could I do?

I didn’t deserve all she gave.

She didn’t have to do all she did,

I could never have sought her out,

If she hadn’t come back and rescued me then

I’d have died, without any doubt.

O the love in her eyes I could never describe!

She loved me more than herself,

Where others passed by, she pleaded and cried,

She rescued me back to full health.

God has said not one sparrow shall fall to the ground

Without our Father’s knowledge,

I’d gone into sin and sunk to the depths

And destroyed my soul with such bondage:

I was broken and hopeless, couldn’t rise from the pit,

Despised by churchmen and all:

“You’re a child of the devil!” They cast me away,

And I was!  – For such was my fall!

I deserved all this scorn, but it cut to the quick:

I cried, “God have mercy on me!”

I knew that I’d brought all this on myself

And I’d lost all my dignity;

Yet I felt so alone with a mind so messed up,

With not a soul in this world I could turn to,

But Jesus heard my cry that day,

He knew all I was going through.

He did not have to come to me,

A worthless, filthy wretch,

But He did, and left the ninety and nine,

One out of the cold to fetch:

He tended my wounds, paid the price of my sin,

Washed me down, cleansed my soul deep within

And patiently, O so patiently through years!

He’s brought me closer to Him.

Today I know I’m a child of His own

And my past He tells me to forget,

“Remembered no more are the sins of your youth!”

When my memory would cause me regret;

Such love unconditional in Jesus I find

And His servant I’m learning to become:

Gentle unto all men, apt to teach,

Patient and merciful, as God’s Son.

Instructing those who oppose themselves

That repentance they might know,

To acknowledge the truth and recover themselves

From the snare of the devil, our foe;

God saw this sparrow with a broken wing,

Doomed never to fly again

And snatched me from that devil that would kick me to death!

I’ll for ever be thankful to Him!

Peter Burt