Friday, June 19, 2020

A Poem for Three Baby Birds

I haven't contributed to Poetry Friday in months. I had had plans for National Poetry Month--but COVID-19 dashed them. When schools closed here in early March, I became my older granddaughter's second grade teacher. I have enjoyed working with her--especially helping her to learn about writing poetry. Teaching, however, has been time consuming. My husband and I have also been providing fulltime daycare for both of our granddaughters as our daughter and son-in-law are considered to be essential workers.

A few weeks ago, three baby blue jays fell out of a tree on our property. We noticed that there was a hole in the middle of the birds' nest. My granddaughters were distraught. My husband, daughter, and I did our best to keep the babies alive. We got information on what to do from our Animal Control Officer. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, the baby blue jays died. My husband made a little bird cemetery for them. We gave the birds names and buried them. My older granddaughter wrote a poem for the birds.


A Poem for Three Baby Birds
By JM

One day I found you, little birdies,
on the ground beneath a tree.
You fell out of your nest.
Where were your mom and dad?
I took you into my barn.
My grandpa fed you!
You were so cute when you fell asleep.
You little birdies snuggled with each other.
The next morning it was time
to make you a nest in a pot.
My mom put you in the pot.
Then my grandpa
hung you back up in the tree
close to your nest.
Three days later my grandpa 
told us you had died.
We buried you in the ground.
We'll never hear you sing.
We hope you rest in peace, little birdies.

**********
Tricia has the Poetry Friday Roundup at The Miss Rumphius Effect.

6 comments:

Tricia said...

Love this. Thanks for sharing it, Elaine.

Amy said...

Your granddaughter’s poem is precious.

jama said...

Thanks for sharing the poem and backstory. It's wonderful that Julia is writing poetry to describe important happenings and expressing her feelings about them.

Bridget Magee said...

Aw, this is so sweet and sad, especially the line: "we'll never hear you sing". The names for the birds are precious - love Beethoven! :)

Janice Scully said...

So sweet! Baby birds are so vulnerable and fragile, you can't help but want to save them. Thank you for sharing this poem about such a remarkable experience.

Karen Edmisten said...

Oh, this is so sweet and touching. Thanks for the story behind the poem. What a sweet, if sad, thing to share with your grandchildren. Please tell JM what a lovely job she did.