you will disembowel the bird
i must warn you before all else
before you poke and prod
at your new brood of yellow chicks
and find threads hanging

if you try to pull the string
you will disembowel the bird
because it is attached
to their tiny internal organs
exactly as yours would be

if you are a sewer
or a general fusser
you will disembowel the bird
treating it like a sweater
and pulling without thinking

you have to slow down
when you rear young chicks
it’s possible that even by mistake
you will disembowel the bird
with an errant movement

but then you should not cry
you should put the creature down
swift and sure
sooner or later, sadly,
you will disembowel the bird