9 Comments

That rhythm is so evocative of the leaping and playing of running water. I love how the water imagery and the singing of the birds is mingled, one leading to the other and back again.

The turn at the end feels Romantic-- worthy of Wordsworth or Coleridge-- to sit in the city and remember the wild places and the beauty of nature.

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This is what Bellbirds sound like by the way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBE5ClLZpw8

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Though he might have had this one in mind:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nk0lR2poyg

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"So I might keep...". I just noticed how rhythmically clever this is: holding close - holding tight - with tight iambs!

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Isn't it a new stanza after line 8?

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Fixed --- thank you!

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No problem!

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What a lovely poem, and one of my favorite meters. It brings to mind our goldfinches and wrens and finches here, singing merrily (when they aren't greedily devouring the sunflower seeds we put out for them!) and filling our yard with beauty.

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Pounding rhythm! Immediately reminded me of Tennyson and then Longfellow and Paul Revere!

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