I wrote this little poem to tell my true story about our Grandma Puckett. She was from the south and did call Cardinals red birds. I can remember watching Patricia Neal in the movie "The Homecoming" as she talked about the red bird. This is one of my favorite TV movies from back when my kids were growing up. We never missed an episode of The Walton's (a TV show taken from this first Homecoming movie). It was a good wholesome program for family viewing. Also "Little House on the Prairie" was a family favorite. Well, getting back to my post for today...here's a poem about the Cardinal or as Grandma would call it red bird. Cardinals molt every year about this time. They appear scruffy and unkempt...not their usual stately beauty. I do think that they are the royalty in the bird world...
Balisha
Grandma Called Them Redbirds by Balisha
Grandma called them red birds...she didn't know their name..
A bright spot in the garden... was their call to fame.
She put some seed out for them.. in the early spring..
They flocked to Grandma's yard and really had a fling.
She fed them everyday and enjoyed their coming so..
She never missed a day that year... as they flew to and fro.
Late summer when she watched for them, as she did most every day..
Her visitors looked different in each and every way.
Scruffy was the word for them...unkempt and not so nice..
Their feathers were of different hues... she thought it was her eyes.
Then she thought an illness.. had made her red birds sick..
She was sad and wanted.. her birds to heal so quick.
Days went by that summer, and the birds still came to eat..
She loved them so... and fed them fruit... for a special treat.
She noticed they were changing back... to how they looked before..
Their scruffiness was going and their feathers smooth once more.
Her birds were now so pretty...sleek, bright and oh so gay..
She brightened up herself ... fairly dancing through the day.
The winter came that year and with it bright, bright snow..
Her feeder swinging in the wind with red birds all aglow.
6 comments:
Beautiful! Jx
OHMYGOSH--what a beautiful poem. I can see grandma, dressed in her house dress and bib apron, looking out her kitchen window at the red birds. My Grandma called the yellow finches, wild canary's. This brought a tear to my eyes--I can still see Grandma and she's been gone, 47 years. Grandma's have a special place in our hearts, don't they?
We used to have a field next to the house and saw many gold finches. We called them "wild canarys" too I always wanted to catch one and put it in a cage.Someone once told me to put salt on a bird's tail and you could catch it. I was after them with the salt shaker...not knowing that you couldn't get that close without them flying away.Silly things we did as children.
Balisha
pretty poem! :) My grandma called them redbirds too...We do that around here. I mean, we know that their real name is cardinals but still they are most often called redbirds in our area, as far as I know.
I think that she knew their name...just trying to make things rhyme.
Balisha
That is one of my favorite Christmas movies. Is there anything prettier than a red cardinal against a snowy background?
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