Beginnings of a New Day

There were two of them, silent, so unusual Green Barbets, on the Papaya tree. A flurry of green wings, heads cocked They studied the ripe, yellow Papaya.

To lie on bed and watch birds in the morning! One nibbling on one and the other on the other – Pity me! The fruits I had hoped to pluck today!

Then hopped down a Woodpecker – what business Does he dare here, I wonder, this nemesis Of worms and termites? So do the Barbets – Awed at his red crest and sharp beak And how funnily he sat on the stem, so unlike birds!

One Barbet hurried away – the other sidestepped the ‘Pecker And watched him, like me, head cocked Jabbing away at the ripe yellow Papaya. Filled, he left, the mighty Woodpecker Leaving the rest for the Barbet.

I reach for the music – happy at the signs Of the new day to come.