[mou] Birder's Morning

[Pastor Al Schirmacher]

Birder's Morning

By nature a collector
Counter
Lister
Guilty of reducing the poetic
To prosaic
Or formulaic
Guilty of choosing spots
For their ability to enhance totals
So today

Nothing new!
On the best trail
In a superb refuge
Everything the same
Curse this lingering winter!

But the sandhill's bugle
(What hill are we taking?)
And the grouse's drumming
(She's out there somewhere)
And the wood duck's explosion
(Pardon me, didn't mean to disturb)
And the pileated's haunting 
(Straight out of a "B" movie)
Even the jay's complaint
(Just this side of irritating)
Remind me that I'm blessed
That I've been lifted out of the urban
(Try finding "spring of the year" there)
That the One who made these
(Sorry about the political in-correctness)
Can be celebrated in sameness
That joy is not just found in the new
Or the more

(Good birding to all!)

Al Schirmacher
Princeton, MN
Mille Lacs & Sherburne Counties