Bird Watchers Rebuttal They say birds sing just to defend their ground, Scientists with their over-incubated solutions for everything. Why then, do birds not sing like lions roaring Or cannons booming, or bombers soaring Instead of angels, or sublime sopranos, Or prodigies of the flute and piccolo? If the thrasher's concert high on a poplar peak Replete with trills and burbled warblings Says, "Stay Back!" Why does my heart, (In Wordsworth's phrase), "Leap up" to hear him sing? They've found the brass to cheap up everything. Such the plight of practicality: "The odor of the rose just draws the bee. That your love for it matters is a dream, As for its red, the passion you think you share Has nothing whatever at all to do with it. That's only there for flagging hummingbirds Whose throats are "rubied," for no other reason Then attracting mindless mates in breeding season," Bunk! That garnet glow is Nectar's permeation. Drinking God's wine creates that permutation; And makes them hum and makes glad thrashers sing And makes me drunk with joy to guzzle Spring. Gene Pinkney     Copyright © 2006 Gene Pinkney No portions may be copied without attribution