Birding by the Fire
This poem is from Ed Keenan,
author & cowboy poet

Deep in winter when birds are few, enjoying winter birds is often because of having a bird feeder. Certain birds return again and again to the feeding station. Having such a station outside a window can be most enjoyable and brighten up a cold gloomy day.

Spread across the fallow field
like a lumpy mattress,
a white blanket of lambs wool
covers the clods,
trimmed with satin at the edges
and weedy borders
of embroidered lace.

Tendons and veins of tree bark
reach up to bony fingers,
forlorn twigs portending spring
high in pewter sky,
waiting for the swell of rising sap
and warmth of light,
and a yellow bird to sing.

I find solace in the winter silence
and the dismal gray,
comfort in the faint and pallid sun,
by birding thru the window
near the warmth of my wood fire;
and back and forth,
go juncos and chickadees.

 Ed Keenan © 11-06