For Frank Tassone’s haikai challenge.
sun melts and drips
yellow as an oriole’s feathers
into the hush
with the sweet golden fluting
of his song
among the leaves
limp with sun
where wood pigeons croon lullabies
shade dapples flash with spread wings
and the heat sings
molten beams spread
flowing
a rising tide
until the evening is awash
with liquid sun
and still the singing
no audience
no applause
only the heckling of woodpeckers
shadows lengthening
and perhaps at the end
before the night
when sleep calls
the satisfaction
of a job well done
And what a song. This is beautiful, Jane.
I love listening to them. The song changes all the time, like a conversation, lots of different strophes, and such a beautiful sound, like a woodwind instrument.
It is. We mostly have blackbirds here which sing beautifully too, all the time. Happy little birds.
I think the blackbird is my favourite singer, and I like their slightly insane behaviour too.
Right?
Right.
Such a pleasure to listen to. The liquid gold that you describe fits so well their look and sound. And sleep calling job well done. Nature’s benediction–nothing more is needed.
They have simple needs. So much more to our discredit that we deny them even that unless it costs us nothing.
Love blackbirds too. Have watched their craziness.
Can you please hop on over to my blog and see if you can read the latest post? This new editor is driving me crazy.
I should get notifications of your posts and haven’t had one. I’ll go check.
Such a wonderful accompaniment to the liquid sun. (K)
I love these birds. They keep up lyrical conversations with one another punctuated by crow-like croaking (usually the female) and they do quite a lot of crow-like squabbling.
Lyrical conversations…that’s just right.
My husband has tinnitus and doesn’t hear many birds singing. He does hear the orioles though and is learning oriole language 🙂
Beautiful song and beautiful words. I liked the heckling of the woodpeckers, and I hope they do think it’s a job well done.
The chirping woke Ricky the Cat, but he went back to sleep. 😀
Smart cat. I had warbler songs going for a while trying to work out what was singing outside, and Trixie jumped up on my desk, tramping all over the computer, puzzled she couldn’t see the damn things 🙂
It must be puzzling. 😀😀
And frustrating. Trixie never catches birds.
Well, Ricky doesn’t go out, so he doesn’t either. And he’s not very good at bug catching either, though he tries. Mickey was the hunter (but only inside).
I bet you don’t have mice. Hard to believe but we did this winter, until the summer started and they moved out. The cats never caught a single one.
When we did have mice or one mouse–Mickey caught it. It was pretty amazing, too. He sat and watched for over an hour, then leaped up to the top of a cabinet, over 6 ft., caught it and jumped down with it in his mouth.
That showed the rest of them what would happen if they hung about, I suppose. Trixie is out all day destroying the wildlife and sleeps all night. Ninnie chases lizards in the attic and cries for help when she catches one… Oh for a Mickey cat that just does what cats are supposed to do.
I still miss him. 😔
I’d be astonished if you didn’t. I have a friend here who had two cats who were brothers. One of them, the lively one that chased things, died about the same time as your Mickey. She has a stray cat moved into her garage but is adamant that she doesn’t want another cat to move in. She feels the gap too much still to want to fill it.
I think I’d lose it if something happens to Ricky. He sleeps against me every night and follows me all around the house.
I can empathise. Finbar follows me everywhere and he’s getting old and a bit unsteady on those long slender legs. I’m not sure what he hears now, he seems almost completely deaf. Of course we love them.
❤️
Beautiful wooven poem, Jane! Love the metaphor showing the sun rays like water. Michael
Thank you!
:-))
Excellent!
Thanks Ken 🙂
Reblogged this on Frank J. Tassone and commented:
#Haiku Happenings #7: Jane Dougherty’s latest #gogyohka #sequence for my current #haikai challenge!
Thank you, Frank 🙂
Lovely Jane. Your words so beautifully describe the scene 🙂
Thank you!