Repost: Like a Nuthatch

What wouldn’t you give

for that peanutty feast –

something of your shyness

at the very least?

For you have valor,

obvious in your stance,

blue-gray caped crusader

eyes fixed in a glance.

Long-billed and short-tailed,

you observe from your perch,

impatient for my hand

to shorten your search.

While head over ‘heels’

you see nothing absurd

in making a descent

to reach what’s preferred.

And then there are times

you also move sideways

with strong toes and claws that

gravity obeys.

Your voice is distinct,

tiny horns on the wind,

red-breast hardly counting

your breaths out and in.

You have a technique

that seems topsy-turvy

but finds more delights than

others more nervy.

Tapping each crevice

you find grubs and insects

that many high climbers

routinely do miss.

Despite your short wings

you lift off with some pluck

to prove, after all, you

know which way is up.

I have included this one in my Nature in Sight 2014 Calendar. The holidays are coming up, and it would make a lovely gift for someone who loves nature reflections in poetry and art.

Copyright 2013 by DM Denton

See a preview of all twelve months and how to purchase.
It is a premium 13.5″ x 19″ calendar, on high quality paper stock, spiral-bound at the top of each month.
Blessings to all!

©Artwork and writing, unless otherwise indicated, are the property of Diane M Denton. Please request permission to reproduce or post elsewhere with a link back to bardessdmdenton. Thank you.