Blackbird Singing Poem by Francis Duggan

In very late August in the dawn cold and gray
And the calendar Spring only two sleeps away
A blackbird is singing his fanfare to Spring
His distinctive song to hear is such a beautiful thing
His song does take me to a place far away
In a Country where it is late Summer today
The blackbirds familiar songsters of the Spring
A Nature's voice of the past that fond memories to me does bring
Blackbirds sight unseen are familiar in their song
Once heard you will never again get them wrong
Introduced in this southern Country more than a century ago
To any of the indigenous birds they are not a foe
A cold dawn is breaking in a sky blue and gray
And a blackbird is singing in Illowa today.