A flat square of greyed, corner- curled plywood
Nailed to the end of a thick pole
Staked into the herb bed
Diced bacon, toast crumbs
Morsel of old apple
Seeds, pieces of nut
A shard of coconut hung by string
Warm in teddy print pyjamas
Face still pillow-creased
I watch them feed as I eat
Autumn chill,
Folded into school uniform (again)
Lying on my back
On the year’s last fresh-cut lawn
Stray clippings tickling my ear
Watching them heading south
In their hundreds
Taking turns to lead a skein
Hauling sheets of winter
In their wake
Colder this morning
Mid-April’s just passed
In stark leafless sun
Its slender dark form
Balanced on a wire
Tips forward opens its wings
Unmistakable
Although just one
The thrill of their return
As the forked tail trails
sumer is acumen in
~
n.b. NaPoWriMo 2025 Day 22. Life-long pleasure from early-learned lesson. Although the final line above is from a C13th Wessex song about hearing cuckoos, the line remains pertinent to seeing the first swallow of the year.
CLP 22/04/2025
Journey of Words 
One response
We have bird feeders all over the garden, love to watch the birds, and join in the big garden birdwatch every January. Your first stanza reminds me of my grandparents’ garden, Chris, which was also always full of birds. I love the image of you as a child ‘warm in teddy print pyjamas / Face still pillow-creased’ and being ‘folded into school uniform (again)’ watching birds migrate, ‘hauling sheets of winter in their wake’.