The cactus wren is a much quieter and more furtive bird than the ubiquitous house wren. They are delightful to have living so close to us and carrying on their own lives.
The Cactus Wren
Oh tiny one,
You carry all the gravity,
The responsibilities
Of being a parent;
You carry the love
Of a million million forebears
In your heart,
And their cares
Flutter upon your wings.
We share a roof now,
You and I,
Where you have built your home
Hardly visible high under the eaves
To shelter your brood
From the wind and the rain
(If rain should come);
You slip like a dart
In and out the entrance
Whence your fledglings will find
Their first glimpse of the December sun
Upon their first feathers.
We share the sun,
You and I.
The ivory moon
all along its edges melts
into the high clouds
After midnight
a sky full of stars
some are falling
Sonnet From a Cold Night
The night is chill and gray. The stars are faint
Behind a thin white haze that mutes their glow
Yet masquerades as light. And far below
The air is frosted in a sullen plaint.
I feel the frost upon my face, restraint
Of pain that grips my mouth into a slow
Stiff sorrow, sets my brow into a woe
Of wind and silence, wrinkled with their taint.
And round my knees the tumbleweed is gray
As is the night, a pale and prickled ghost
Where I stand listening; until away
Among the brush a quiet noise, small host
Of tiptoed rabbit feet; and sudden, they
Make warm the nighttime when the dark is most.
If you love old poetry as well as new, please check out my other newsletter, with its themed posts of art and poetry. The most recent is entitled “December Botanicals” and features works by van Gogh, Rupert Brooke, John Clare, Olga Wisinger-Florian, John Singer Sargent, and others.
..I can't quote the sonnet properly...
thank you..
"Of tiptoed rabbit feet; and sudden, they
Make warm the nighttime when the dark is most"
You know it's a quiet evening when tiptoes rabbit feet catch your attention. So cute. thanks