Insomniacs know all too well the sounds of the dawn chorus, in which the blackbird plays a major part. This little journey of the imagination was sparked off in the early hours of May mornings. The accompanying poem is about another phenomenon of the spring countryside.
EXPLORING BRITAIN UNDER A BLANKET
OF BLACKBIRD SONG AT DAWN IN MAY
Imaginary levitation, not too high,
Will wing me over hedges of leylandii
And wicker fences (Woolworth’s best)
And laurels sporting hidden nests,
And browning daffodils and cherry trees
With frilly petals at suburban ease.
~
The blackbird baton is passed on
Through roadside thickets drenched at dawn
And fields of cows and trampled earth
To trees that rim the view of earth.
~
Melodious quest may draw me west
To wilderness that knows no rest
From wind that leaves the tussocks bleached;
Still through the hills bird song is leached.
~
And on far shores the phantom sound
Will clash with larks’ and still resound,
Till out at sea the song will cease
And maverick birds now hold their peace.
LD
MELLOW YELLOW
~
Fields of vulgar rape
Offend the eye
With their intensity.
Buttercup meadows, now,
There’s a different prospect:
Yellow with a
Pointillist’s art
And hints of dark green depths
Where beetles browse
And cattle cool their hooves
In the margin of leaf and mud.
LD
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