"chirrup" poems
Mariana in the Moated Grange
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
With blackest moss the flower-plots
Were thickly crusted, one and all:
The rusted nails fell from the knots
That held the pear to the gable-wall.
The broken sheds look'd sad and strange:
Unlifted was the clinking latch;
Weeded and worn the ancient thatch
Upon the lonely moated grange.
She only said, "My life is dreary,
He cometh not," she said;
She said, "I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!"
Her tears fell with the dews at even;
Her tears fell ere the dews were dried;
She could not look on the sweet heaven,
Either at morn or eventide.
After the flitting of the bats,
When thickest dark did trance the sky,
She drew her casement-curtain by,
And glanced athwart the glooming flats.
She only said, "The night is dreary,
He cometh not," she said;
She said, "I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!"
Upon the middle of the night,
Waking she heard the night-fowl crow:
The **** sung out an hour ere light:
From the dark fen the oxen's low
Came to her: without hope of change,
In sleep she seem'd to walk forlorn,
Till cold winds woke the gray-eyed morn
About the lonely moated grange.
She only said, "The day is dreary,
He cometh not," she said;
She said, "I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!"
About a stone-cast from the wall
A sluice with blacken'd waters slept,
And o'er it many, round and small,
The cluster'd marish-mosses crept.
Hard by a poplar shook alway,
All silver-green with gnarled bark:
For leagues no other tree did mark
The level waste, the rounding gray.
She only said, "My life is dreary,
He cometh not," she said;
She said "I am aweary, aweary
I would that I were dead!"
And ever when the moon was low,
And the shrill winds were up and away,
In the white curtain, to and fro,
She saw the gusty shadow sway.
But when the moon was very low
And wild winds bound within their cell,
The shadow of the poplar fell
Upon her bed, across her brow.
She only said, "The night is dreary,
He cometh not," she said;
She said "I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!"
All day within the dreamy house,
The doors upon their hinges creak'd;
The blue fly sung in the pane; the mouse
Behind the mouldering wainscot shriek'd,
Or from the crevice peer'd about.
Old faces glimmer'd thro' the doors
Old footsteps trod the upper floors,
Old voices called her from without.
She only said, "My life is dreary,
He cometh not," she said;
She said, "I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!"
The sparrow's chirrup on the roof,
The slow clock ticking, and the sound
Which to the wooing wind aloof
The poplar made, did all confound
Her sense; but most she loathed the hour
When the thick-moted sunbeam lay
Athwart the chambers, and the day
Was sloping toward his western bower.
Then said she, "I am very dreary,
He will not come," she said;
She wept, "I am aweary, aweary,
Oh God, that I were dead!"
3k
A sliver of sun through
Early morning haze,
Heralding the promise
Of long cloudless days:
Rescue me.
Fresh meadow scent on
A soft soughing breeze;
Chirrup of a song thrush
Hidden amongst the trees:
Rescue me.
The gentle hovering of
A noisome honeybee,
Searching out pollen
On a dancing petal sea:
Rescue me.
Trill of childish laughter
Echoing from the park,
Competing for attention
With a soaring sky~lark:
Rescue me.
A beautiful woman in
A cotton print dress;
Her leisurely gait enticing
Beneath the fabric’s car~ess:
Rescue me.
The red sinking giant
Painting clouds in the sky,
Just another lost day
Laying down to die:
Rescue me,
Rescue me,
Please, rescue me.
©Paul M Chafer 2014
Oct 2, 2014
Oct 2, 2014 at 7:59 AM UTC
Translation From Catullus
Ye Cupids, droop each little head,
Nor let your wings with joy be spread,
My Lesbia’s favourite bird is dead,
Whom dearer than her eyes she lov’d:
For he was gentle, and so true,
Obedient to her call he flew,
No fear, no wild alarm he knew,
But lightly o’er her ***** mov’d:
And softly fluttering here and there,
He never sought to cleave the air,
He chirrup’d oft, and, free from care,
Tun’d to her ear his grateful strain.
Now having pass’d the gloomy bourn,
From whence he never can return,
His death, and Lesbia’s grief I mourn,
Who sighs, alas! but sighs in vain.
Oh! curst be thou, devouring grave!
Whose jaws eternal victims crave,
From whom no earthly power can save,
For thou hast ta’en the bird away:
From thee my Lesbia’s eyes o’erflow,
Her swollen cheeks with weeping glow;
Thou art the cause of all her woe,
Receptacle of life’s decay.
1.9k
"Mariana in the Moated Grange"
(Shakespeare, Measure for Measure)
With blackest moss the flower-plots
Were thickly crusted, one and all:
The rusted nails fell from the knots
That held the pear to the gable-wall.
The broken sheds look'd sad and strange:
Unlifted was the clinking latch;
Weeded and worn the ancient thatch
Upon the lonely moated grange.
She only said, "My life is dreary,
He cometh not," she said;
She said, "I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!"
Her tears fell with the dews at even;
Her tears fell ere the dews were dried;
She could not look on the sweet heaven,
Either at morn or eventide.
After the flitting of the bats,
When thickest dark did trance the sky,
She drew her casement-curtain by,
And glanced athwart the glooming flats.
She only said, "The night is dreary,
He cometh not," she said;
She said, "I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!"
Upon the middle of the night,
Waking she heard the night-fowl crow:
The **** sung out an hour ere light:
From the dark fen the oxen's low
In sleep she seem'd to walk forlorn,
Till cold winds woke the gray-eyed morn
About the lonely moated grange.
She only said, "The day is dreary,
He cometh not," she said;
She said, "I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!"
About a stone-cast from the wall
A sluice with blacken'd waters slept,
And o'er it many, round and small,
The cluster'd marish-mosses crept.
Hard by a poplar shook alway,
All silver-green with gnarled bark:
For leagues no other tree did mark
The level waste, the rounding gray.
She only said, "My life is dreary,
He cometh not," she said;
She said "I am aweary, aweary
I would that I were dead!"
And ever when the moon was low,
And the shrill winds were up and away,
In the white curtain, to and fro,
She saw the gusty shadow sway.
But when the moon was very low
And wild winds bound within their cell,
The shadow of the poplar fell
Upon her bed, across her brow.
She only said, "The night is dreary,
He cometh not," she said;
She said "I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!"
All day within the dreamy house,
The doors upon their hinges creak'd;
The blue fly sung in the pane; the mouse
Behind the mouldering wainscot shriek'd,
Or from the crevice peer'd about.
Old faces glimmer'd thro' the doors
Old footsteps trod the upper floors,
Old voices called her from without.
She only said, "My life is dreary,
He cometh not," she said;
She said, "I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!"
The sparrow's chirrup on the roof,
The slow clock ticking, and the sound
Which to the wooing wind aloof
The poplar made, did all confound
Her sense; but most she loathed the hour
When the thick-moted sunbeam lay
Athwart the chambers, and the day
Was sloping toward his western bower.
Then said she, "I am very dreary,
She wept, "I am aweary, aweary,
Oh God, that I were dead!"
1.8k
*Chitter , chatter chirrup
Three birds of a feather
A friendly chummy posy -
in perfect morning tide pleasure
Trilling , thrilling , touring Thrush's in the noon palmettos
Chiming sweet refrains in the -
broomcorn meadow
Musky , dusky weary
Gold songsters in a bush
A huckleberry trio in the-
nighttime hush*
Apr 6, 2016
Apr 6, 2016 at 10:25 PM UTC
With blackest moss the flower-plots
Were thickly crusted, one and all:
The rusted nails fell from the knots
That held the pear to the gable-wall.
The broken sheds look'd sad and strange:
Unlifted was the clinking latch;
Weeded and worn the ancient thatch
Upon the lonely moated grange.
She only said, "My life is dreary,
He cometh not," she said;
She said, "I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!"
Her tears fell with the dews at even;
Her tears fell ere the dews were dried;
She could not look on the sweet heaven,
Either at morn or eventide.
After the flitting of the bats,
When thickest dark did trance the sky,
She drew her casement-curtain by,
And glanced athwart the glooming flats.
She only said, "The night is dreary,
He cometh not," she said;
She said, "I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!"
Upon the middle of the night,
Waking she heard the night-fowl crow:
The **** sung out an hour ere light:
From the dark fen the oxen's low
Came to her: without hope of change,
In sleep she seem'd to walk forlorn,
Till cold winds woke the gray-eyed morn
About the lonely moated grange.
She only said, "The day is dreary,
He cometh not," she said;
She said, "I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!"
About a stone-cast from the wall
A sluice with blacken'd waters slept,
And o'er it many, round and small,
The cluster'd marish-mosses crept.
Hard by a poplar shook alway,
All silver-green with gnarled bark:
For leagues no other tree did mark
The level waste, the rounding gray.
She only said, "My life is dreary,
He cometh not," she said;
She said "I am aweary, aweary
I would that I were dead!"
And ever when the moon was low,
And the shrill winds were up and away,
In the white curtain, to and fro,
She saw the gusty shadow sway.
But when the moon was very low
And wild winds bound within their cell,
The shadow of the poplar fell
Upon her bed, across her brow.
She only said, "The night is dreary,
He cometh not," she said;
She said "I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!"
All day within the dreamy house,
The doors upon their hinges creak'd;
The blue fly sung in the pane; the mouse
Behind the mouldering wainscot shriek'd,
Or from the crevice peer'd about.
Old faces glimmer'd thro' the doors
Old footsteps trod the upper floors,
Old voices called her from without.
She only said, "My life is dreary,
He cometh not," she said;
She said, "I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!"
The sparrow's chirrup on the roof,
The slow clock ticking, and the sound
Which to the wooing wind aloof
The poplar made, did all confound
Her sense; but most she loathed the hour
When the thick-moted sunbeam lay
Athwart the chambers, and the day
Was sloping toward his western bower.
Then said she, "I am very dreary,
He will not come," she said;
She wept, "I am aweary, aweary,
Oh God, that I were dead!"
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Jun 10, 2013
Jun 10, 2013 at 2:11 PM UTC
We danced to the river’s song every summer’s moonlight
drawn together by impassioned currents stir
Lovers swimming in dulcet waters cleansing flow
washing the sweltering day’s memories away
to paint on the moment, beneath a sky full of stars
Cinnamon summer hues glistening colour
moonbeams ricochet off goose-bumped flesh
Trembling warmth rippling through shivering passion
arousing all our secret places,
pulsing wildly, with a feral potion
racing through our veins
Tasting summer love’s awakening appetite
blissfully sharing what was ours forevermore to keep
Twilight colored your eyes
with the songs we never knew
Crickets chirrup to a cadence
only raging hearts beat to
sating a restless ache, sweet nights of summer bliss
Quenching a budding common thirst,
whispering in blissful harmony
only revealed in the cattails' purr along river's edge,
swaying with a rhythmic summer breeze
We went down to the river every summer night,
making love with stardust in our eyes;
set free like shooting stars,
setting fire to the heat of the night
wild is the wind
May 5, 2016
May 5, 2016 at 4:41 PM UTC
windowsill aster
beneath a ladybug's
dance
spring zephyr
tuned to
the woodshed sparrow's
chirrup
Mar 28, 2016
Mar 28, 2016 at 3:52 PM UTC
Cheerio, cheerio
Four AM they call to keep the awake awake
And lull the slumbering deeper adream
Clutching vapors of the musky night
Cool, humid, starry eve
Betelgeuse humming a tune
Rigel entranced by the melody
Alnitak, Alnilam, Mintaka belting along
While the nightbirds
While away the hours, embedded
Deep in the canopy of springtime maples
And chirp, and chirp, and chirp the expanse
Singsonging to insomniacs
******* of blue, red, orange, all grey
Parading the atomic clock onward
And every night they chirrup
Never before two o’clock- why at such a time
As the deadzone of slumbering night?
And there goes the first
Cheerio, cheerio
Good night, good morning nightbirds.
Feb 27, 2015
Feb 27, 2015 at 4:33 PM UTC
956
What shall I do when the Summer troubles—
What, when the Rose is ripe—
What when the Eggs fly off in Music
From the Maple Keep?
What shall I do when the Skies a’chirrup
Drop a Tune on me—
When the Bee hangs all Noon in the Buttercup
What will become of me?
Oh, when the Squirrel fills His Pockets
And the Berries stare
How can I bear their jocund Faces
Thou from Here, so far?
’Twouldn’t afflict a Robin—
All His Goods have Wings—
I—do not fly, so wherefore
My Perennial Things?
1k
Every morning
At 6.35 am
I defrost the car
Then drive home
With numb fingers
And icy breath
Eyes heavy
Heart heavy
And chilled to the bone
I pull in the drive
And then shiver again
As I lock the car
But a smile
Tugs at my lips
And a warmth
Scratches at the chill
As the chirrup
Of the blackbird
That welcomes me
Every day
Once again
Serenades me
Into my home
Feb 12, 2015
Feb 12, 2015 at 11:29 AM UTC
THAT ADLESTROP MOMENT
Train stops.
Stranding us in real life countryside.
Townies gobsmacked.
Silence attacks.
The world melting
in a heat haze.
Where has our real
reality gone?
Tracks lead away from us
be we are going
nowhere
fast.
As if the future
had ceased to exist.
We are like the male member
caught in the teeth
of a too hastily
done-up zip.
Yep,,,,,,,doesn't go up!
Oooops,,,,doesn't go down!
A kestrel free
of our dilemma.
Laughs at us
"Humans, eh....who'd 'ave 'em!"
Smaller birds gossip
discussing this all too human
situation.
I recite Adlestrop
in my mind
to my reflection
staring dumbly back at me.
"There is a countryside
in my face..."
I Marvell.
As if Nature
had invaded my physiognomy .
"Unwontedly...something
something something or other."
Oh bother!
"No one left and no one came."
The birds stop to listen.
"Yes, we remember Adlestrop!"
they twitter.
"Hear it one day
in what you humans
call
the Past.
Wot a laugh!
They unaware that there is only
one great big forever."
I fell silent.
Deserted by all thought.
"Give us some more
of that good old Adlestrop stuff!
The birds chirrup.
"No what less still and lonely fair
through cloudlets in the sky."
I ventured.
"Naw...naw...naw mate!"
a crow caws.
"The bit 'bout us birds
if you please!"
I cough and continue.
"Farther and farther, all the birds
of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire."
The birds all cheep and cheer.
"Hip hip hooray for Edward Thomas!"
The train remembers itself.
Rouses itself from its slumbers.
As if all this
had been but a dream.
"Yes, I remember Adlestrop"
But not all of it.
It was June.
Mar 21, 2018
Mar 21, 2018 at 6:22 PM UTC
fledglings chirrup and gape
(I cannot feed the World
just about feed myself)
and the garden birds
(who are not garden birds)
just happen upon the feeders
This is going nowhere
and everywhere at once
its time someone invented
the perfect electronic Bird Feeder
Aug 14, 2014
Aug 14, 2014 at 9:53 AM UTC
Watching the sparks of life
winging around my feeder.
Listening to the chirrup,
tweets, whistles, and calls.
Wondering at the variety
even among such small wonders.
Shapes, colors, behaviors, sizes
every species their own.
Every individual its own.
Wonderous creations.
Feb 20, 2011
Feb 20, 2011 at 8:02 AM UTC
Let us run away to a place,where love is shared,
joy is spilled, happiness is made
Where life is all about delightful, magnificance ;
Where smiles are divine and eyes have innocence,
Where the tears in eyes shows the intensity of love ,
And the wounds are healed by the touch ;
Where loveliness increases ,
And it never passes to nothingless;
Where the morning happens just to greet us;
Where affection of our love tempt the sun to steal the warmth;
And the birds chirrup our name together in their songs .
Where river flows with the divine drink of love,
And the dolphins jump to chase our sweetness;
Where evenings comes to feel our presence;
Even the stars and moon twinkles to romance with us;
Where the sea beach waits,
And meetings of ours allures the waves;
Where the breaths of yours touches my sleep ;
And the dreams of your nights became the prayers of my mornings.
Where defeats of yours meets the flood of my assurance.
And these will be the glories of yours where I bow in obessinance;
And the pacing of your feet is heard in my heart .
Where I have your hand in hand,
And we walk to the end .
Where the time has no boundations;
And the love is free of all cannotions;
Where our love resembles the white horse of wings ,
And we ride over the hills.
Where the nature feels the bliss of our touch,
And we rejoice the butterflies in between;
Where we lie in the glaciers to welcome our death,
And we die together to live forever in the earth.
Where the air knows our smell and nurture our company,
And the flower blossom to tribute our love,
Where I am all yours and you are mine .
I have the place in my heart ,I ask you to come and reside
Jul 3, 2015
Jul 3, 2015 at 2:32 AM UTC
chirrup,
youth of the spring,
come sensitive pores and
sensible glands and senseless fun,
cheerup.
Apr 14, 2018
Apr 14, 2018 at 4:21 AM UTC
I refuse to believe that the increasing madness
is mine alone
this is a shared trait among us
the pipers of the salty sea
the pipers of the interior beaches
same movement, same chirrup
Jan 20, 2014
Jan 20, 2014 at 9:58 PM UTC
*Concoctions of morning Blackstrap Molasses , Apple blossom honey
Afternoon Sugar Cane treat Sundays
Catfish feeder pond thrills
Stirring Bobwhite Quail wood line hideaways
Plentiful , native green grass runways
Kerosene lanterns , john boats o'er -
Black Crappie midnight waters
A thousand new songs rippled the moonlight -
causeways
Lakes melting into night
The warm , thick air of first light
Mockingbird chirrup , Killdeer call
August morning star convocations of -
Crape Myrtle with butterfly epiphanies*
Aug 29, 2016
Aug 29, 2016 at 11:37 PM UTC
We are happy to chirrup with the others
but would the peacocks dance with us?
Our coats not exotic but shabby and plain
And we like being in places close to our nests
We love the sky and to breathe the clean air
But do not aspire to go where eagles dare
Do not pity us, oh great birds of pride
Our songs are sweeter- never mind our size
For vanity and attention is not why they are sung
But to plug the holes you skewered in our hearts
Mar 30, 2019
Mar 30, 2019 at 11:38 AM UTC
When the so fine breeze passes by me
I WANT YOU
When the chilled water flows by me
I FEEL YOU<your coolness>
When the tiny grass touches my feet
"I FEEL YOU"<your touch>
When the roughness of land interrupts
"I REMEMBER YOU"<your beard>
When the Love Birds chirrup
"I WISH YOU WERE WITH ME"
Oct 25, 2014
Oct 25, 2014 at 12:54 PM UTC
A chirrup beneath my
window syll
"Chirrupchirrup."
A Pipit goes. Café au lait
plumage quavering in dew
and wind.
Splayed on syll sublime
his songs he
sings.
My ears, freshwoken, hear
tender crescendo and I
arise
and start the
day.
Jan 29, 2018
Jan 29, 2018 at 6:26 PM UTC
I am listening to Billie
drop her new album,
Curious to hear, indie,
pop or chill, vulnerable?
Or will it be just another
wannabe?
And as I ponder, my focus
wanders to the bird calls
outside my window,
they are spectacular,
unique and peppery,
shrill and squawky
and a soft melody.
How can humans compare?!
Oct 18, 2024
Oct 18, 2024 at 9:31 PM UTC
Today I am alone, but am not lonely.
The spring warmth and teasing breeze
Are all I need for company.
My silhouetted head and shoulders
Shield my eyes from the blinding sun.
I remember winter, wet and wind and do not miss it's chill being undone.
The chewy soft doughnuts, bought and Baked just minutes ago
Smell heavenly like sticky vanilla
And the buzzy bees will tell you so.
Birds I cannot see, chirrup and choo.
They see the promise of Spring
And I can feel it too.
The bluest blue of the sky above
Is clear as dewy morning drops.
A Monarch flits by idly
Its wings like a velvet glove.
A chocolate Labrador waits at the gaps in the fence.
He really wants to play.
But here I must sit patiently, and let the poetry have it's say.
Sep 19, 2019
Sep 19, 2019 at 9:46 PM UTC
one chirrup from a sparrow
one breeze from across the sea
one cloud riding the blue
one poem to sing
one heartbeat
one line
one stanza
one longing
one justice
one world
one race
one song
one love
one time
one life.
May 24, 2017
May 24, 2017 at 7:10 AM UTC
There's more honesty
in the dance
of the
Hare Krishna's
than in the
whole recorded
unexpurgated
output
of that shallow
vicious
son of a gun
Rush Limbaugh.
There's more honesty
in the Indian practice
of cleaning
your ***
with water
than there is
in the fearful
paranoid
lunacies
of that *******
Wayne Lapierre.
There's more honesty
in the corridors
of the insane asylum
just west
of town
than from the chattering
smart suited
short-skirted
well combed
anchors
of that
infamous TV station
for 68 year old
and upward
aging
white men.
There's more honesty
in the chirrup
of a cricket
or the crows
caw
than in the
dismal distractions
of this
chattering culture,
which daily
deceive
&
distract
us,
oh yes.
Mar 25, 2017
Mar 25, 2017 at 1:41 PM UTC