UNLUCKY BLACKBIRD

Sitting on the bus going into town on one of those baking hot mornings
of a very dry Spring, I watched this blackbird foraging around for food.
The bus had stopped almost alongside a battered piece of grass which
had a couple of thin and leafless saplings and many patches of bare earth
in it. This beautiful shining bird seemed intent on digging up the whole
of it in its search for something to eat.
I wished I had a ton of rich top soil to pour over the ground but, just as
the bus started to pull away, the blackbird suddenly ran across the
threadbare earth to a more promising patch under one of the saplings.
I hoped so much it found a good meal. It was so lovely, flashing and
glittering there in the early morning sun.

UNLUCKY BLACKBIRD

Unlucky black bird,
Beak flashing gold
In the sun,
Flinging lean crumbs
Of baked earth
Into the air.

Fruitlessly searching
For a succulent snail
That may be hiding
In there.

No ants.
No fat worms.
They have all gone.

Unlucky blackbird
Goes hungry.
Until it pulls itself together
And moves on.

                   © 2023 Gwen Grant