Poem for Thursday and Local Crows

The Jackdaw 

By William Cowper 

There is a bird, who by his coat,

And by the hoarseness of his note,

Might be supposed a crow;

A great frequenter of the church,

Where bishop-like he finds a perch,

And dormitory too.

Above the steeple shines a plate,

That turns and turns, to indicate

From what point blows the weather;

Look up—your brains begin to swim,

'Tis in the clouds—that pleases him,

He chooses it the rather.

Fond of the speculative height,

Thither he wings his airy flight,

And thence securely sees

The bustle and the raree-show,

That occupy mankind below,

Secure and at his ease.

You think, no doubt, he sits and muses

On future broken bones and bruises,

If he should chance to fall.

No: not a single thought like that

Employs his philosophic pate,

Or troubles it at all.

He sees that this great roundabout,

The world, with all its medley rout,

Church, army, physic, law,

Its customs, and its businesses

Is no concern at all of his,

And says—what says he?—"Caw."

Thrice happy bird! I too have seen

Much of the vanities of men;

And, sick of having seen 'em,

Would cheerfully these limbs resign

For such a pair of wings as thine,

And such a head between 'em.

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Thursday was quite cold with snow starting in the afternoon, though the accumulation is supposed to be less than half an inch. I had work to get done in the morning, and by the time we went for a walk to the park after lunch, there were flurries in the air. Three of the swans were surfing on the waves and the geese and ducks were piled in the grass along with dozens of crows all over the place, but all the cormorants were on one dock huddled together.

 

I folded laundry while watching the end of a Secrets of the Zoo episode (poor flamingo George Michael) and the start of the Maryland-Nebraska basketball game. My Thursday night chat group hung out on Zoom for a while, then we ate bagels for dinner because we weren't ravenous after acai bowls for lunch. We watched this week's Ghosts (my favorite line was the one comparing The Bear and Ratatouille) and now we're watching some more season three House.