The great flocks of redwing blackbirds feasting on sunflower seeds out in the garden and corn patch have been delighting us with their trilling calls and bright red flashes of color lately. They reminded me of one of Carl Sandburg’s Harvest Poems that I would like to share:
Laughing Corn
There was a high majestic fooling
Day before yesterday in the yellow corn.
And day after tomorrow in the yellow corn
There will be high majestic fooling.
The ears ripen in late summer
And come on with a conquering laughter,
Come on with a high and conquering laughter.
The long-tailed blackbirds are hoarse.
One of the smaller blackbirds chitters on a stalk
And a spot of red is on its shoulder
And I never heard its name in my life.
Some of the ears are bursting.
A white juice works inside.
Cornsilk creeps in the end and dangles in the wind.
Always-I never knew it any other way-
The wind and the corn talk things over together.
And the rain and the corn and the sun and the corn
Talk things over together.
Over the road is a farmhouse.
The siding is white and the green blind is slung loose.
It will not be fixed till the corn is husked.
The farmer and his wife talk things over together.
~Carl Sandburg
What pretty little birds…..:)