I Have a Bird in Spring

 

Holly Meade

I Have a Bird in Spring   I have a Bird in spring Which for myself doth sing -- The spring decoys. And as the summer nears -- And as the Rose appears, Robin is gone. Yet do I not repine Knowing that Bird of mine Though flown -- Learneth beyond the sea Melody new for me And will return. Fast in a safer hand Held in a truer Land Are mine -- And though they now depart, Tell I my doubting heart They're thine. In a serener Bright, In a more golden light I see Each little doubt and fear, Each little discord here Removed. Then will I not repine, Knowing that Bird of mine Though flown Shall in a distant tree Bright melody for me Return.   Emily Dickinson   I don't know when I first began associating little birds with my children(maybe everyone does with theirs too). It may have started with that poem "little birds" by e.e.cummings (first blog post) - I've loved it for so long, and when my kids came along I saw them in the words. However it developed, the fact is, a picture of a little  sparrow or wren, or any small bird, brings them immediately to mind. So that print by Holly Meade, to me, is my daughter, who would have been 13 years old today. I think of her in that "truer Land" every day.