The weather has been so much better this week. I’m able to sit out in the garden again and watch the birds feeding from my bird feeders. I am amazed at the number and variety of birds this tiny feeding station attracts. Early this morning my garden seemed to be overrun with blackbirds but since then all sorts of different birds have visited.
The Blackbird
by Lord Alfred Tennyson
by Lord Alfred Tennyson
Painting; Black and Gold, November Blackbird Richard Allen
While all the neighbors shoot thee round,
I keep smooth plats of fruitful ground,
Where thou mayst warble, eat, and dwell.
The espaliers and the standards all
Are thine; the range of lawn and park;
The unnetted black-hearts ripen dark,
All thine, against the garden wall.
Yet, tho’ I spared thee all the spring,
Thy sole delight is, sitting still,
With that gold dagger of thy bill
To fret the summer jenneting.
A golden bill! ths silver tongue,
Cold February loved, is dry;
Plenty corrupts the melody
That made thee famous once when young;
And in the sultry garden-squares,
Now thy flute-notes are changed to coarse,
I hear thee not at all, or hoarse
As when a hawker hawks his wares.
Take warning! he that will not sing
While yon sun prospers in the blue,
Shall sing for want, ere leaves are new,
Caught in the frozen palms of Spring.
Painting;
The field of blackbirds Zorka Perovic
The field of blackbirds Zorka Perovic
Beatles; Blackbird singing
Cat Stevens; Morning has broken
