For the Blackbird – Free Verse – October 3, 2014

For the Blackbird

Here in the olive grove,
I in a brown mood,
Hear your soliloquy;
You could be a winged Hamlet
Despairing your fate …
No bright songs do you sing now
Only long chittering complaints
Laments reft of promise
As autumn grows older
And colder …

Or is it just me,
My own autumn blues,
That attributes to you
My rook-colored friend,
A sadness you know not.
(Your insouciance to seasons proverbial –
You fear not the winter cold …)

Perhaps yours is exultation –
The call of the hunter!
“Come one, come all
There’s food in abundance!
The swallows are gone … and
All those pesky summery tourists …
The insects grow bold
Look as they come out of hiding…
I spy … spiders and flies …
Ah how lovely in autumn.”

Oh my sweet blackbird,
Dearest totem of freedom,
I love you so well!
I could listen for hours
To your seasonal calls …
I imagine you’re to me,
A portal of happiness,
With your resonant tones.
No, no lament is your autumn song
It’s an invitation:
Find the good things of autumn …
Find happiness and peace.

(c) G.s.k. ’14