dew quivers
as the skylark’s singing goes
lonelier then
last dewdrops
and first tears evaporate
a skylark’s singing
lonelier songs
emerge from nights in the dew
skylark by skylark
###
These poems were written in response to Carpe Diem Time Machine #6: Skylark, another great prompt hosted by Chèvrefeuille at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. All of the poems in the link-up can be read here. And, to finish, here’s the Jeff Beck Group –
I’ve read this series over and over — the play of skylarks vs. dew is wonderful. That sense of the skylark easing the pain – momentarily – living from skylark to skylark. Sometimes haiku series sort of disintegrate — but this one builds.
And I’m adding that song to my playlist — wow. [Followed by a great cover too 😉 ]
Definitely one of my favorite posts, Blake —
Why, thank you! I’m glad you like it – I’m getting back into the groove a bit, it seems.
Your adding of the Wordsworth poem seemed to nudge me in a certain direction, which was very useful – good prompting, Jen 🙂
The song’s pretty extraordinary, hey? I didnt know it till a few weeks ago, but i had a Led Zep phase that led me to check out this band on YouTube and this song convinced me straight away.
Very glad the Wordsworth was helpful…..it seemed like skylark would be an exceptionally tough prompt without something extra to work with.
And yes — the band is GREAT – definitely one to check out!!! I’d never heard of them.
You’re right – ‘skylark’ by itself as a prompt would have produced a pretty blank expression over here, I must admit. ‘Birds’ are also on my ‘need to learn more’ list..
But you know Rod Stewart, I expect? This band was his big break.
Just checked Jeff Beck on YouTube — wow — so many connections — Clapton, Stewart, Page – and he could have been a part of the Rolling Stones!!
Moving from YardBirds to other birds … you should have seen the grackles tonight — it looked like a scene out of Hitchcock. A hawk approached their roost – thought better of it – and wheeled away!!!
I’ve seen our ravens and magpies take to the sky en masse when a hawk insists on straying too close to the nests – it’s quite an impressive sight, and relentlessly noisy. I didn’t think grackles were that big? They must be pretty tough – gotta be, with a name like “grackle”, I suppose; they sound like mobsters!
Actually, they sound like rusty gates opening and closing, for the most part! 😛 But they do whistle on occasion and that’s sweet and pretty. They *are* pretty tough – and FEARLESS! And get about a hundred of them together? Wow. What a racket!
They’re not all that big – sort of starling-sized – and they’re a lovely iridescent purple-black.
It’s a wonderful sight / sound – hearing that many birds take wing all at once. I’ve love to see a flock of ravens take flight!
Yes, I looked at the photos you included a link for, and the grackles are far more fancily dressed than our poor ragamuffin starlings. They must look quite lovely, all glinting together..
It’s only when the light hits them properly that they’re pretty. In the sky, they’re just a dark black. When they walk on the ground they’re almost “cocky” — strutting around like they own the place — and they don’t really bully the other birds — they’re just so assertive that the other birds “mosey on down the road”, you know. 😛
Did you see that Mini Rock Iris made her debut yesterday?
Blackbirds are rather like that – at least the males like to strut about the place. I always assumed it was because they think they look so darn cool, all dressed in black all day. But grackles are the same..? Then again, I did think they looked pretty cool too 🙂
No, I haven’t seen Mini Rock Iris yet – I skim quite quickly down the BIOLI homepage since I have so far to travel to get to my “bookmark”. But I’ll stop off to see her debut when I pop over shortly.
No worries — I understand! 🙂
And – oh yes — grackles are *quite* cool! They’ve got the birdland equivalent of a nice swagger. I suspect they’d wear sunglasses too, given the opportunity!
And they’d totally *rock* that look 😉
Yep, I’m seeing grackles in a zoot suit and shades. Nice!
So hip, man! Hip!
🙂