Andrew Young, the Scots-born-and-educated poet cleric, loved birds and wrote of them with originality and affection. Here are three of his little pieces.
THE BIRD
The blackbird darted through the boughs
Trailing his whistle in a shrill dispute
‘Why do you loiter near our house?’
But I was mute,
Though as he perched with sidelong head
I might have said,
‘I never notice nests or lovers
In hedges or in covers;
I have enough to do
In my own way to be unnoticed too.’
THE MISSEL-THRUSH
That missel-thrush
Scorns to alight on a low bush,
And as he flies
And tree-top after tree-top tries,
His shadow flits
And harmlessly on tree-truck hits.
~
Shutting his wings
He sways and sings and sways and sings,
And from his bough
As in deep water he looks through
He sees me there
Crawl at the bottom of the air.
THE NEST
Four blue stones in this thrush’s nest
I leave, content to make the best
Of turquoise, lapis lazuli
Or for that matter of the whole blue sky.
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