are there any free bird watching poems, suitable for retirement party?

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  1. WendyD1999’s avatar

    Not sure how “free” it is but here’s one:

    Ode To Bird Watching
    ~

    Now
    Let’s look for birds!
    The tall iron branches
    in the forest,
    The dense
    fertility on the ground.
    The world
    is wet.
    A dewdrop or raindrop
    shines,
    a diminutive star
    among the leaves.
    The morning time
    mother earth
    is cool.
    The air
    is like a river
    which shakes
    the silence.
    It smells of rosemary,
    of space
    and roots.
    Overhead,
    a crazy song.
    It’s a bird.
    How
    out of its throat
    smaller than a finger
    can there fall the waters
    of its song?
    Luminous ease!
    Invisible
    power
    torrent
    of music
    in the leaves.
    Sacred conversations!
    Clean and fresh washed
    is this
    day resounding
    like a green dulcimer.
    I bury
    my shoes
    in the mud,
    jump over rivulets.
    A thorn
    bites me and a gust
    of air like a crystal
    wave
    splits up inside my chest.
    Where
    are the birds?
    Maybe it was
    that
    rustling in the foliage
    or that fleeting pellet
    of brown velvet
    or that displaced
    perfume? That
    leaf that let loose cinnamon smell
    - was that a bird? That dust
    from an irritated magnolia
    or that fruit
    which fell with a thump –
    was that a flight?
    Oh, invisible little
    critters
    birds of the devil
    with their ringing
    with their useless feathers.
    I only want
    to caress them,
    to see them resplendent.
    I don’t want
    to see under glass
    the embalmed lightning.
    I want to see them living.
    I want to touch their gloves
    of real hide,
    which they never forget in
    the branches
    and to converse with
    them
    sitting on my shoulders
    although they may leave
    me like certain statues
    undeservedly whitewashed.
    Impossible.
    You can’t touch them.
    You can hear them
    like a heavenly
    rustle or movement.
    They converse
    with precision.
    They repeat
    their observations.
    They brag
    of how much they do.
    They comment
    on everything that exists.
    They learn
    certain sciences
    like hydrography.
    and by a sure science
    they know
    where there are harvests
    of grain.

    - Pablo Neruda

    - Translated by Jodey Bateman

  2. thomasrobinsonantonio’s avatar

    You might be able to use these two I wrote a few years ago:

    As I stood sheltering out of the rain,
    I had this strange feeling again and again.
    That someone was watching me from somewhere nearby,
    No one could I see, there was no reason why.

    The dim light the storm caused, it was so hard to see,
    But I still felt that someone was staring at me,
    When suddenly to my utmost surprise,
    I saw nothing else, just those two large round eyes.

    From her nest the young blackbird watched me in fear,
    Afraid of the stranger standing ever so near,
    Never knowing that she, had been frightening me,
    So we parted at once, and I found a new tree.

    ———————

    Jack.

    Jack was my best friend when I was a lad,
    The most wonderful pal that a boy ever had.
    He never could speak, but he knew what I said,
    He believed every word and was easily lead.

    I first met young Jack, when he was quite small,
    He was black, short-legged and not very tall,
    His home it was dirty and dark as the night,
    The first time I saw him, I really took fright.

    He made a strange sound, when I gave him some bread,
    It caused him to choke, and I thought he was dead,
    But he quickly recovered and became quite strong,
    So I carried him home, not knowing ‘twas wrong.

    He slept in our shed, not allowed in our home,
    Through the fields we would wander and mountains we’d roam,
    ‘Till the day I was told, ‘twas against the law,
    To steal from a nest, a fledgling Jackdaw.

    ——————————-

  3. rallman@sbcglobal.net’s avatar

    I think “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe would be nice. Find it on Internet

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