A Grave in Apple-Tree
Corner.
The tree is old and may be
dying,
It spreads its shoots for
the dead,
Red is the dead as old as
the tree,
Twice years in his lifetime
given,
Love and song his gift to
all,
His whistle twice and burst
of song,
A presence belies his given
size,
His death was breathly
welcomed,
A tired and disfigured form,
Without song or flight he
tarried,
From perch to perch until
the floor,
Of his cage so ample he
settled,
He soars now on gossamer
wings,
With flocks of rewarded in
joy,
He will stay a while but
return,
To cover the journey of joy
and sound,
Until the joy he gives he
becomes,
Then all is bliss a step
away,
From where we start and end,
Not just a headstone in
apple-tree corner.
An Ode to ‘Red’, a canary
that lived with us for 12-13 years. This is double the normal life-span for
this type of bird……..Tony O’Clery.