when I wake to see the sunrise
I hear birds sing their dawn chorus

still clinging to old tradition
house finches sparrows and robins
together make the morning din
as light pierces the horizon

each bird labors to raise the sun
sashaying in bright new feathers
alone but also together
stretched from beaks to toes they’ve begun

if birds didn’t sing would light dim
morning never begin or day
cease to exist fading away
dawn become just notes on the wind

back from pestilence and famine
two scourges then drought I began
to doubt I’d have you back again
my bawdy poet

if birds didn’t sing would light dim
morning never begin or day
cease to exist fading away
dawn become just notes on the wind

birds rise early for love of spring
they sashay in bright new feathers
alone but also together
singing to turn sound into heat

cheerup purty purty purty
each bird labors to raise the sun
stretched from beak to toes they’ve begun
sure day begins with melody

still clinging to old tradition
house finches, sparrows and robins
together make the morning din
as light pierces the horizon

I find one redeeming feature
shifting to Daylight Savings Time
is that I can see the sunrise
and hear birds sing their dawn chorus

head cradled soft upon my breasts
you sing me tuneless songs, each line
growing more bawdy until I
stifle dreadful verse with a kiss