A Silent Warning Poem by Tor Magnor Solvang

The birds are fading, song by song,
Not just in Norway, where they thronged.
A NIBIO count, a somber sign,
A drop of twenty-five since '09.

But look beyond the fjords so grand,
A wider loss across the land.
In Europe's fields, a deeper cut,
Sixty percent, the numbers shut.

North America, a chilling tale,
Three billion birds have left the vale.
One in four, a silent flight,
Vanished softly from our sight.

The fields are changed, the methods stark,
Pesticides reign, leaving their mark.
No hedgerows left, no wetland's grace,
Just monocrops in every place.

The cold-bird's plight, a faster fall,
Than warmer cousins, answering call
Of changing climate, harsher now,
Upon the mountains' snowy brow.

And avian flu, a cruel hand dealt,
From Norway's coast, its pain is felt.
A global sickness, swift and deep,
While coastal flocks their silence keep.

So Norway grieves, and takes its share,
Of loss and change beyond compare.
But know this truth, beyond the trees,
The birds are fading on the breeze.

A hemisphere's slow, mournful sigh,
As feathered friends take to the sky,
And don't return, their numbers few,
A silent warning, plain and true.

T M.Solvang