Perched in summer light,
the blue jay stands watch.

A sentinel in feathers,
bold as the promise made
two hundred fifty years ago.

Its crest lifts like a banner,
its colors echoing a nation
still learning, still striving,
still singing its declaration
into the open air.

In that bright eye
is the same spark
that once leapt from quill to parchment.

A reminder that freedom
is not only a date in history,
but a living thing
that perches among us still.