I Fancy Poem by Francis Duggan

I fancy I can hear cock chaffinch singing
On hawthorn white with blossoms of the May
His wife in nest of brown moss on her eggs sit
In fork of tree from prying eyes hid away.

His pink breast in the mid day sunshine gleaming
He pipes a warning in his territory
To other cock chaffinches living nearby
To not venture inside his boundary.

I fancy I can hear cock pheasant crowing
In rushy field he cuck all through the day
You seldom see him out on open ground
And where cover is he seem to like to stay.

His duller looking mate is somewhere near
Sitting patiently and silent on her nest
With lots of heavy cover all around
Ten olive eggs kept warm beneath her breast.

I fancy I can hear the dipper sing
On rock amidst the rapids of the stream
His scratchy notes familiar to my ear
Doesn't vary much at least that's how 'twould seem.

He swim underwater in search of his food
Worms, water beetles, larvae and such he eat
A perching bird unique in a strange way
He dive and swim despite his unwebbed feet.

I fancy I can hear the carolling lark
Above the hillside in the morning rain
And soaring ever soaring as he sing
The bird has vanished but his song remain.

The dipper singing in the mountain stream
The skylark carolling above the hill
The pheasant crow, the little chaffinch sing
I fancy I can hear and see them still.