February 6th, 2022Local Lines

Summer Prayer

Whenever I’m slow to start my day
See too many obstacles in my way
Through my window I see them play
Honeyeaters on stems that sway

New Hollands and Spinebills clearly say
We’ll chirp and eat and scream gooday
Defy the odds from birds of prey
Not cower and live a life’s that grey

Face down Wattle birds come what may
Ignore advice to be au fait
If there’s a price well we will pay
But from our nature we’ll not stray

In sunshine’s warm life-giving ray
We will not hide (and meekly pray)
From snapping probing beaks that slay
They’ll cause no fear and won’t delay

Our joy of morning’s rich display
We’ll keep all of those fears at bay
Endure the furious chase and fray
Aloof from sadness and dismay

Our random flight we will obey
Tomorrow we’ll again replay
The flair we put on show today
No one can ever say we’re fey

So let me all your fears allay
Don’t fret that we will go astray
In life whatever we essay
We’ll all of us return to clay

When in this rhyme of vast array
As light turns grim and starts to gray
It’s on my bed I seek to lay
These rhymes to juggle and to weigh

With birds it’s really come what may
Cos nature’s such a bumpy sleigh
They’re not just donkeys who simply bray
While pulling along a heavy dray

New Holland honeyeaters yay,
To Eastern Spinebills yea Jose
To birds in my garden it’s open cache
Plentiful bird baths hey? Ole.

Tom Perfect