Listening to them

Published on by Laura Bloomsbury

“The birds sang in the wet trees
And I listened to them it was a hundred years from now
And I was dead and someone else was listening to them.
But I was glad I had recorded for him
The melancholy.”
Patrick Kavanagh

though the trees are not always wet
Robin tunes up quietly at first
autumn mist in its throat
a farewell melody to a faded season
and blackbirds hymn the day is done
high in a broadleaf tree 

though birds are not always so doleful
one minuscule wren with a giocosa call
can compose cantatas every Spring
and Hardy's thrush threw gloom
to the wind with carolling 

yet we who absorb the hue of blue
note most the melancholy mood

Taking inspiration from a recently discovered poet – Patrick Kavanagh – and a little late entry for the Toad’s Tuesday Platform

8 thoughts on “Listening to them”

  1. What a wonderful reply to the source lines; and you create a lovely picture of your own.

    1. thank you Rosemary – could not resist a response to this short piece of Kavanagh’s [have just bought the book “No earthly Estate” for more inspiration 😉 ]

  2. This is gorgeous. I appreciate the blue most, I think, but this line is stellar: “Hardy’s thrush threw gloom to the wind with carolling”

    1. Yes blue is my commonest take on the spectrum – perhaps I need a darkling thrush
      ” His happy good-night air
      Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
      And I was unaware”

  4. Ah, how picturesque and melodious is this snapshot in time!
    This is beautiful: “yet we who absorb the hue of blue/note most the melancholy mood”.
    -HA

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