Listen

Today’s prompt is a bit of a gift for me, as my poetry often features birds and their songs.
This April I have been letting my writing go as loose as it felt right with lots of freeform and bits of prose thrown in. Today I thought I’d take a break and go for a haiku, which I did.

The trouble was, I wanted to hear more about the subject, so I wrote a full poem in a different form, it’s a sort of starter and main course effect!

---

It closes tired eyes,
Unfolds creased hearts, opens ears,
Sets free joyful tears.

---

Between the final glow of orange sun bright,
And the soft approach of shading dusky twilight,
There is a time for listening.

Let your velvet curtains silence your eyes,
Let your chest fall and rise without sighs,
This is the time for listening.

Hear the tiny Chiffchaff with his beak beat,
Perfect time for the choir to keep,
Which you will, if you take time to listen.

Melody is the Blackbird’s form,
Who, with the speckled Song Thrush of voice so warm,
In exquisite harmony requests that you please listen.

Perceive the rat-a-tat run of the Nuthatch drum,
And when the Wren lets loose his machine gun,
You’ll be glad that you stopped a while to listen.

You’ll hear the Robin trill standing centre stage,
And the Blackcap warble from same song sheet page,
And with operatic keys, they’ll unlock your mental prison.

Even the pigeon with its silly call,
And the Tawny who hoots from the back of the hall,
Are there if you care to listen.

And the Crow will crow and Pheasant bark,
But in the woods there will be no Skylark,
Sailing high to the sun that makes his feathers glisten.

Behind the raucous racket of the human race,
Lies another world, a most beautiful place;
Please stop, take the time, and close your eyes then listen.

---