Bird Food Poem by John Shea

I was sitting on a bale of hay
A blue jay flew my way

Robins did their bobbing worm stab
Into the still frozen ungiving earth

I saw her blue eyes in the carolina sky
They made me want to sprout wings and go fly

Where I flew was the nest I intended to fight for
I ruffuled my feathers to say nevermore for that piper on the shore

She gave me a glance and smiled to my dismay
For today the ground thawed and food was to stay

So plentiful and fine
feathery and devine

sticky and sweet
smelling like mesquite in the new found heat

I ruffulled my feathers
Showed her my regal bald head

She gave me the bird
The one I never had seen before

It looked like a snipe
So I grabbed a pillow sheet so white

The night was dark with a sliver moon
My flashlight was working last June

I gave it a shake
As to ask if by mistake but captured a loon

If spring would bring Robin to me
Why are there beggars like sparrows
In my nesting tree?