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Songbird

A wee something prompted by McCartney's  "Blackbird" (one of many of his earworms that have afflicted me over the past few days despite not seeing his much-hyped appearance at Glastonbury), the sound of my mother in law's so-called twitter-tree (a roosting place for a large family of sparrows) over a phonecall, a recently completed jigsaw, my current reading of Simon Barnes' superb "The Meaning of Birds" and thinking recently about the early days of the pandemic lockdowns.

Sing
To celebrate life
Sing
For sheer survival
Sing
In defiance of death
Sing
To stake your claim
Sing
To transcend the science
Sing
Your own simple song
Sing
The stolen songs of others
Sing
To salute the spring
Sing
To anticipate the dawn
Sing
Though the world disregards
Sing
Through a pandemic pause
Sing
In a language few can fathom
Sing
Because it is who you are

Selah

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