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Life on the Deckle Edge

Poetry Friday: Home's a Nest

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!  Greetings from "Travelers Nest," to be precise.  We live in Travelers Rest, but when we bought this house a few years ago, I had a little sign made for the front porch that says, "Travelers Nest."

 

I'm always excited when birds nest near us.  (Though I've had to stop putting a spring wreath on the front door; we need to use the door!) 

 

This year we replaced an old bird house with a new nesting box for bluebirds.  Two, actually.  I've seen activity at both (one out front and one in the back), but know the back one was definitely used, with a mom and dad going in and out over recent weeks.  It's quiet now; curiosity got me today, so I lifted the little side door which has a hard plastic "wall" to peek through.  Definitely a lot of nesting material going on (I'd seen pine straw through cracks in the bottom), but also remnants of, well, birds living there - so much that I couldn't see through.  So I slid my cell phone through the opening at the top and took some pictures.  Honestly, I can't make heads or tails of the messy situation in there, but I hope it led to baby birds which fledged while we were gone (maybe during the wedding week or such).  I'll have to clean it out for the next time!

 

At the front of the house, I did see cardinals going in and out of the Chinese Fringe bushes we have at the front porch, maybe a month or so ago.  I haven't been able to tell if they've really used the nest they built, as it's hard to see without making a ruckus, and I haven't wanted to encourage the dog to bark at them through the railing! 

 

But one nest has for sure resulted in eggs.  No sooner had I brought home a couple of hanging ferns for the front porch than I started seeing a small brown blur when I'd go out there. So small and so fast; I haven't been able to 100 percent identify it. It's not a Carolina wren; we used to host a pair every year back in Georgia. I was thinking sparrow (there are several kinds, of course!) but now I'm pretty convinced this little mama is a house finch. Yesterday after she'd flown off for a minute, I grabbed my phone and held it above the hanging basket, and I discovered the picture above - four eggs with one very brand new hatchling! 

 

So now I'm keeping the dog mostly away fom the porch and trying to give Little Bird Mama a wide berth if I have to open the door. I can see the silhouette of her wee brown head looking at me when I do! She's literally too fast for me to properly i.d. when she takes off. 

 

As the amazing David Sibley says:

 

Birders often struggle to distinguish the streaky brown birds, lumping them together with nicknames like "LBJs" (for "Little Brown Jobs"). Click here for more from BirdwatchingDaily.com. 

 

I haven't seen Dad; that would help. But the eggs look like house finch eggs. 

 

**FRIDAY MoRNiNG NEST UPDATE!** - ALL the eggs have hatched!  I snapped a quick (blind) pic on my phone when Mama briefly flew off this morning, and the nest is full of very fluffy babies!  I think there are four. :0)

 

Any bird nests in your realm?

 

Here's a little tribute to all of our feathered families, as a metaphor for our human ones, from British poet William Barnes (1801-1866):

 

 

HOME'S A NEST

 

O Home is a nest of the spring,

Where children may grow to take wing.

 

A nest where the young folk are bred

Up, to take on the work of the dead.

 

Where babes may grow women and men,

For the rearing of children again.

 

Where our children grow up to take on

Our own places, when we are all gone.

 

All forsaken, when children have flown,

Like a nest in the bush-top alone.

 

Where our children are bred to fulfil,

Not our own, but our Father's good will.

 

O, Home is a Nest!

 

 

The Home Book of Poetry, compiled by Dana Estes, Estes & Lauriat, Boston, 1882.

 

We have so many wonderful books of bird poetry, several by talented members in our Poetry Friday community!  And, if haiku is for you, here's a little shout-out for the 2023 collection from bottle rockets press, Bird Whistle: A contemporary Anthology of Bird Haiku, Senryu & Short Poems, edited by Stanford M. Forrester/sekiro & Johnette Downing. I have a couple-few poems in there.  Here's the link! 

 

Thanks for coming by, and be sure to wing your way over to see Ramona at Pleasures from the Page for the Poetry Friday Roundup!

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Poetry Friday - Go See Sarah Grace!

Greetings & Happy Mother's Day weekend! Extra hugs for those who have a hard time with this holiday. I actually flew south this weekend for a wee visit with my own mum.  See you next week, but be sure to check out the Poetry Friday Roundup hosted today by Sarah Grace Tuttle. (My phone is not letting me copy and paste the link, much less a hyperlink.) ;0)

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Poetry Friday: A Wedding, a John O'Donohue poem, and May Day Faerie Love

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!

 

We're still catching our breath after a whirlwind but joyous weekend, celebrating the wedding of our son Seth and his lovely bride, Ginnie.  Those two had made things official last November at the courthouse, but we had the ceremony and the fun to-do's around the I-do's from Friday to Sunday. 

 

Seth picked a poem to be read during the ceremony, and my hubby Jeff ended up doing the honors. He was familiar with this work. 

 

"For Marriage" by poet and priest John O'Donohue has been shared at many a wedding, if the internet is any indication.  I couldn't find an official link for it, so I'll just share a couple of the eight couplets, the fourth and fifth:

 

 

As kindly as moonlight might search the dark,
So gentle may you be when light grows scarce.

 

As surprised as the silence that music opens,
May your words for each other be touched with reverence.

 

 

O'Donohue was born in 1956 in County Clare, Ireland, and died suddenly and much too soon in 2008.  You can learn more about him and his work at his legacy website: https://www.johnodonohue.com/.  I haven't listened to this yet, but the public radio program On Being has a link to an interview originally aired in 2005 here, with a YouTube video here

 

The poem, the address by pastor Brian, the vows and other elements were moving and beautiful.  Another wedding moment that was charming beyond description was when our grandson Sawyer, two-going-on-three, served as ring bearer.  We had all been practicing, but one never knows. Parents Morgan and Matt were in the wedding party, so they dropped off Sawyer to sit with me as they processed in.  Just before his big part, I slipped a green velvet cape over his head and let him take the two rings from their box.  With a little encouragement launching him forward, Sawyer walked solemnly to the front and gave the rings to Uncle Seth and Aunt Ginnie.  All to the tune of "Concerning Hobbits" from Lord of the Rings playing over the sound system (Ginnie's doing). Precious!

 

Speaking of magical beings and Ireland and such, as I write this on Thursday, it's May Day!  The fairies have been whispering to me in recent months, and I've been looking all over our property trying to find the perfect place for a secret project - a fairy garden. I've been collecting items from a dollar store and from Amazon, and got to work with a wheelbarrow and tools this week, hiding my progress until today.  I hope the wee grands love it!  It was all - ahem - for them, of course.  Yep.  For the grandbabes. (There's a short little video on my artsyletters Instagram & Facebook pages).

 

It might be May, but you can still go back and enjoy this year's April/Poetry Month Kidlit Progressive Poem, which just ended its journey with oh-so-talented April this week at Teaching Authors. 

And be sure to catch this week's Poetry Friday Roundup, which has moved to A(nother) Year of Reading  with our wonderful Mary Lee!

 

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