Now that the leaves have fallen from the trees, and the temperature is dropping, I am pausing to sit on the porch swing in my memory of a summer afternoon. This is what I saw:
Dip and splash and shake, shake, shake.
Dip and splash and shake, shake, shake.
A robin bathes in a puddle.
She stands in the middle.
She dips her red breast.
She shakes and flutters
And sits.
A passing car gives her a startle,
But when all is quiet, she returns to the puddle.
She sits.
She flutters, she shakes, shakes, shakes.
Along comes another robin to bathe in the puddle.
The first makes a fuss, but
Sharing is friendlier.
One dips and splashes and shakes, shakes, shakes
In the middle of the puddle.
The other paces by the side of the puddle.
They switch.
Dip and splash and shake, shake, shake.
One could wonder how she would bathe her back,
But with all that flapping,
She is showered and soaked.
She twitches, she preens.
She plunges her head into the puddle
and flaps some more.
Along comes a cardinal.
He thinks about a bath.
He touches his head to the ground
Once, twice, three times.
He hops and flies away,
And the robins take turns still.
Dip, splash, shake, shake, shake.
Wade in the water,
Plunge and shake.
Flutter, flutter,
Hop away.
Robins taking a bath.
8 comments:
Whew, I am glad that you are not giving up your blog. With whom would you share your moments of inspiration and observation? No pressure on you to produce volumes, but just keep the blog in place so that you can give us more random insights--like the bathing robin. Lovely!
It's so...robin-ish! I can see her splashing.
I appreciate all of the encouraging comments.
Oh, my English-Major mind: I'm wanting to analyze why the Cardinal refrains.
Very picturesque, though. I like the soothing, delightful attitude. It makes we want to dabble in poetry as a robin dabbles in puddle-baths. I suppose it'd be more like being drenched, though--and oh, how nice it sounds.
Inspiring.
The Cardinal refrained because Cardinals are very gentlemanly by nature and he did not want to disturb a lady while she was bathing.
Is that why he touched his head to the ground three times??? Was he embarassed, or bowing, or something?
Maybe the Cardinal is frustrated he did not wake up early enough to beat the Robin to the bath. Now he will be stuck with cold water. He is hitting his head in disgust! Doh-doh-doh!
The early bird catches the ...
I, too, am glad you are going to keep blogging. You see things so vividly and I always enjoy your descriptions. Where did you get those creative genes? MR
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