Sorry it’s not celebratory, Lillian. For the dverse open link night, a haibun I wrote at the beginning of the week. Another insignificant death. There are so many here. Compensated a little by finding, the same evening a couple of toads nestled up together beneath a tree, waiting for the rain.
Today a young bird died, a blackbird, sick perhaps or dropped by the hovering buzzard, mortally injured. It crouched in the grass alone, waiting to die. It died before midday, behind the log pile. Refusing to eat, no idea of where was home, drawn to the blackbird fuss from the distant trees and then renouncing. Finches were twittering overhead, a woodpecker chipping away, a pigeon cooing. It died, one wing outstretched, like a hand, not knowing why, knowing nothing beneath the implacable sun, except that death was coming. How many stretch out a hand, a wing, a paw in those final moments? How many look into the face of death and understand at last what it is to be alone?
Sunlight falls
but in those eyes
winter gazes.
Jane Dougherty Writes 
Wishing the sweet blackbird new wings on the other side of the rainbow – a beautiful and moving write Jane xxx
Thank you, Xenia 🙂 It seems disproportionate; it was only a blackbird chick, and Nagasaki was tens of thousands of human beings, but the one seems to encapsulate the other. Death is death.
So true, the spirit of a blackbird is still a spirit xxx
Any death is sad, though some are tragic.
I really really love this piece, one of your very best, the story of the dead blackbird reminds me of a poetic classic… I cannot remember which poet… and the haiku is just perfect.
Thank you, Bjorn! It seems like such an insignificant thing but I found it so sad. I tried to feed the chick slugs and insects but it wouldn’t swallow anything. It just wanted to die.
A heart breaking write….you bring the reader right there to experience this.
These words “How many stretch out a hand, a wing, a paw in those final moments? How many look into the face of death and understand at last what it is to be alone?”
I think in the end, we all face death alone, even if we are surrounded by loved ones.
The haiku is stunning.
Thank you, Lillian. I think that’s right. Sorrow and disappointment can’t be shared either, but death is where we really do walk completely alone.
I embrace the perfection of the haiku, and add my pleasure to sitting with you at this death watch. I, too, was thinking of Nagasaki today; so your tale of the dying blackbird becomes the perfect metaphor for the day. I was sitting on the deck looking at our 17 year old cat, wondering when we will find him passed on.
Thanks Glenn. Death is never pleasant or easy and only to be welcomed when it is a release from something too hard to bear. Not a cheery prospect ever.
Absolutely heart breaking story told beautifully!
Thank you, Jo. I was saddened by that quiet little death.
Wonderful written Jane! Its always sad to see the death this way. The poor blackbird, and the thousand poor humans every day die all over the world. Lets hope there is another life for them at the other side. Michael
Thank you, Michael 🙂 This world certainly is a vale of tears. If whatever there is after death doesn’t admit blackbirds, I’m not interested.
So true Jane. ;-( Lets make the best of it.Wish you a wonderful tear free weekend. Michael
Ha! I’ll try not to get too upset. I have all the children staying until next Tuesday so there won’t be time for tears I hope!
kaykuala
How many look into the face of death
and understand at last what it is to be alone?
A reality that keeps playing all the time. Good observation Jane!
Hank
Thank you, Hank. Why we all want to have crowds of loved ones around us when we die, I suppose, to hang on to the illusion that we aren’t alone.
This one definitely shivers. (K)
Lots of sadness in the world.
Very well described. I liked the outstretched wing and the waiting.
Thank you, Frank. It was sad to watch.
It saddens me also when I see young fledglings or chicks dead on the path. I once went into the middle of the road to retrieve a great tit which had been hit by a car as, even though it was dead, I couldn’t bear the idea of it being squished and squashed by the hundreds of HGVs that went by everyday.
The lane we live on doesn’t get any traffic except the cars of a handful of neighbours and the bin men once a week. The birds and animals don’t have much notion of getting out of the way. Yesterday an engine had been up and down the lane brushing up the surplus gravel of a new road surface and in the evening there was a dead stoat. Got caught by the brusher, I imagine. I took it home to put it somewhere peaceful away from the roadside. Stupid, but we do these things, don’t we?
How sad Jane.
It was probably on its way to visit the rabbit burrows in the bank at the other side of the lane, so the stoat’s loss is their gain in a way.
Things have a way of balancing out. 🙂
They do, as long as we don’t interfere too much.
That’s the hardest part, stopping ourselves from interfering.
Exactly.
Stunning poem, Jane, and so sad. Yes, each death is faced alone, and it is lonely and sad.
That’s the way I feel anyway. I can’t think that anything will make it somehow ‘going to a better place’.
I agree.
🙂
A heart-wrenching write. The fact that you wrote a poem about the blackbird speaks a lot about your kind and compassionate soul! ❤
I just get upset about everything, Sanaa. I think it’s pathological more than anything else 🙂
Reblogged this on Go Dog Go Café and commented:
Fresh Hell’s belated but enthusiastic choice for Pay It Forward Thursday
Thank you for the reblog 🙂
So very eloquently written 💜💜
Thank you!
Death certainly is a reality that’s hard to face or think about. But it will come to us all eventually and to those we love. The best way to deal with its existence is to be living the life you truly are happy with to the best of your abilities.
That’s true, and we in the ‘safe’ west are privileged to get a chance to do that.
A tiny life snuffed out too soon. RIP little bird. Lovely and touching piece.
Thank you, Eugenia. It is a shame. Nothing came to eat it either, so it was a completely useless death.
This could easily have fit with the Haibun Monday prompt. I was struck by the indifference of nature to the blackbird’s death, as evidenced by the continued tweeting of other song birds. It’s so like how the passing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki days happen each year with a flurry of the usual headlines that are often overshadowed by whaterver current event happens. I can so see both of the cities in the blackbird, too! Wonderful write, Jane!
Thank you, Frank. It’s the reporting of tragedies that gets to me, how something dreadful gets the concerned voices and the interviews with distraught victims then the next story is all about holiday traffic jams or a sports event and the tone changes to cheery and the anguish is forgotten.
Indeed, Jane. The 24-hour news cycle–and the social media echo chamber–exacerbates this.
I feel so bad for the victims of horrors when it appears we are more interested in the antics of some music star or the weather forecast.
Reblogged this on Frank J. Tassone and commented:
#Haiku Happenings #2: Jane Dougherty’s #haibun for #dversepoets!
Thank you Frank 🙂
My pleasure, Jane! 🙂
🙂