A Trio of Blackbirds…
Scattered, torn morsels of stale loaves
On mown, self-laid lawn
Had enticed her
Latterly.
Dull brown with alert eyes
She would swoop onto her one leg, forlorn
And embrace her
Meal, eagerly and utterly.
Scattered, strewn parcels of moved belongings
One morning, a jumble at dawn.
I noticed her
Skittering.
Plain brown with erect tail,
She could stoop onto the one leg, forlorn…
I embraced her
Zeal, curiously stuttering.
The apex of my umbrella
Slid on the tea-shop’s fake green lawn,
An umbrella forming the hypotenuse,
An incline, a perch for a blackbird forlorn…
Tempted by a pastry morsel,
She sidestepped, reaching an inquisitive beak
To my fingers, as upwards she crept,
The crumbling scone to seek…
Clumsily, I dropped the food,
She swooped and took the bait
But she would return forthwith.
In expectation I watched her wait…
Tentatively, I held out more of the pastry.
Tentatively, my hand she approached.
Tentatively, she took my offering.
Tentatively our lives had encroached…
Pete Ray…
Whilst living in Tamworth during 1978, a female blackbird with her right leg missing would feed on bread and scraps in my garden.
I looked out for her.
On the day I moved back into Birmingham, I had not seen her.
The removals van had left and I climbed into my car but I just couldn’t leave…
I walked to the rear of the house and there she was, standing on the garden fence.
I spoke a silent farewell.
The following morning, I awoke very early at the new house in Hodge Hill, for I was to travel with the kids from my school for a Whitsun week’s camping break.
Boxes lay about in the lounge as I opened the curtains to see, standing on the back lawn, a female blackbird with her left leg missing.
It was astonishing…
In August 2015 at Tisanes tea-rooms in Broadway, Worcestershire, a female blackbird took food from my fingers.
This completed the circle for me…
A FEMALE BLACKBIRD IN MY CURRENT GARDEN...
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.