-->“On mornings that had once throbbed
With the dawn chorus of robins, catbirds,
Doves, wrens, bobolinks,
And scores of other bird voices,
There was now no sound at all;
Only a horrifying silence now lay,
Over the fields, and woods, and marshes.”

Rachel Carson’s ‘Vision of the Future,’
Written in 1962

I looked out my window about dawn
And at my bird fountain, he did drink
He was black, and white, and beautiful
I rushed outside, to greet this Bobolink

And what a truly heavenly sight he was
Memories of my childhood, he had brought
I pictured myself, in my grandmother’s garden
A magical place, where nature's lessons, she taught

I recalled her many tales about this wondrous little creature
Remembering, he traveled 6,000 miles, every Fall and Spring
And that, he was America’s only black and white migrating bird
She said I should always welcome him and always listen to him sing

My nature-wise grandmother and her enchanting garden are long gone
But the numerous lessons she taught me about nature, thankfully remain
I now stood mesmerized, listening to my marvelous visitor, singing out to me
And once upon a time, his kind had numbered in the millions, out on our plains

But like so many other birds these days, their numbers are horridly on the decline
They’ve been shot down, used as food, and much of their habitat, is already gone
After his thirst was quenched and his thank-you song was done, he now took wing
I waved, yelled ‘Good Luck,’ and thanked God for my childhood memories this dawn

The black and white Bobolink has been called many names over the past centuries
Including Rice Bird, Reed Bird, Butter Bird, Skunk Blackbird, and Meadow Wink
We humans have killed it by the thousands, and even served it in our restaurants
Never even noticing it eats insects harmful to our crops - and soon, it could be extinct

I looked out my window about dawn,
And at my bird fountain, he did drink;
He was black, and white, and beautiful,
I rushed outside, to greet this Bobolink.

I knew he was on a long arduous journey,
He’d started weeks ago, in South America;
I hope he can find a mate, and start a family,
Perhaps in some secluded area, up in Canada.

In the last few horrendous decades for birds,
Bobolinks have suffered a devastating decline;
As I watched this one fly away, I wished him well,
To me, his wondrous visit at dawn, was truly divine.


©Spring 2014, Mr. Ed