Song Sparrow by Jeannie E. Roberts

                            ​May Bird Baby on Branch - Jeannie E. Roberts



​Song Sparrow
(Melospiza melodia)
 
Trilling his notes with robust timbre, song sparrow calls from limb
of silver maple. Below, near shore, columbine blooms, as does daisy,
where nettles tower and bull snake weaves through riverbank grape.
Virginia creeper scales pine, as ashen clouds drape morning storm.
Still, sparrow tilts his head skyward, intones.
 
When you were fifteen, your father died of prostate cancer.
Like bird strike on window, shock sent you tumbling down riverbank,
careening toward tangle of unknowns. Parental loss before age twenty
can impact adulthood in both obscure and obvious ways. As your life
unfolded, few guiding words were expressed,
 
though you recall — Chin up. Smile. And, kill them with kindness --
in response to oppositional forces. It’s not unusual for human beings
to avoid uncomfortable conversations, especially if the topic is death.
When untethered sensations manifest into feelings of displacement,
can this undercurrent reach solid ground?
 
Your mother was early widow at forty-eight. You honor her tangle
of unknowns, have compassion and empathy for her journey.
In her eighty-eighth year she died and at ninety, she appeared
as crimson columbine. Her cremains remain flowering perennial,
for she rises after Rush River’s spring flood, where her presence
 
beautifies its eroded banks. As you approach your twilight years,
self-examination has accelerated, taken precedence. How do you
comprehend loss, the complexities of existence, the maze,
spiral, experience? Introspection is worthy pursuit --
it can lead to enlightenment, appreciation, forgiveness.
 
Accepting what has shaped you is like loving embrace.
When unpleasant subjects knock, speak with your children.
Transparency can build stronger relationships, invite the music
of connectedness. Revisions are ever available — the closed-door
dynamic can become the open one. When grief’s sediment descends,
​
tilt your head skyward, trill your notes across the heavens — sing.
You are brilliance of silver maple, merriment of daisy, vibrancy
of song sparrow ascending above ashen skies.

​

Jeannie E. Roberts has authored six books, including The Wingspan of Things (Dancing Girl Press, 2017), Romp and Ceremony (Finishing Line Press, 2017), Beyond Bulrush (Lit Fest Press, 2015), and Nature of it All (Finishing Line Press, 2013). She is also author and illustrator of Rhyme the Roost! A Collection of Poems and Paintings for Children (Daffydowndilly Press, an imprint of Kelsay Books, 2019) and Let's Make Faces!, a children's book dedicated to her son (author-published, 2009). Her work appears in print and online in North American and international journals and anthologies. She holds a B.S. in secondary education, M.A. in arts and cultural management, and is poetry editor of the online literary magazine Halfway Down the Stairs. When she’s not reading, writing, or editing, you can find her drawing and painting, or outdoors photographing her natural surroundings. 

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