Our Scientists are Wrong
CSWA_DawnVornholt_Birdshare
Our scientists are wrong about the songs
Of birds. Their singing is about the leaves
They sing among, these shapes that each one longs
To seize upon in notes. This task bereaves
Them sometimes since their melodies must fail
Occasionally in their creation of
A worthy phrase, and so they must bewail
Their failure by repeating it. Their love
Of leaves, though, often makes the warblers voice
Melodic trials which sweetly capture
The essence of two leaves. Then birds rejoice
With their full-throated, amplified rapture.
They chant these matching lyrics in blank air
Whenever they produce a perfect pair.
“birds welcomed those
first hours of the morning joyously,
and leaves supplied the burden of their rhymes” Dante, Purgatorio, Canto XXVIII, lines 16-18