Mockingbird
Withdrawn, it unfolds
to another
voice, like that
of a child lost in the wind.
Or, lonely, it rises from its place
and sings, only
to return and start again.
The pleasure we accept derives from
the knowledge that we are not alone.
Each morning we walk out and sit
by the stones, hoping to observe some
new patterns in his life. What we
see is an answer. What we hear is no song.
* * *
“Mockingbird” made its first appearance here in January 2015. It was written
in the 1980s, probably around 1987-1989.
O at the Edges 
beautiful words and I’ve never seen one
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They’re fairly nondescript, but lovely to hear!
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Intriguing to contemplate what the mockingbird’s call (at the moment) is expressing. Pleasure-giving song almost surely not the bird’s purpose. I recall one incident when I COULD decipher a mockingbird’s message: walking from car toward visitor center after crossing state line into Arkansas, minding my own business but alarming a mockingbird in tree beside the walkway … he got more insistent as I got closer and didn’t shut up till I was well beyond his tree! Clearly he felt territorial; clearly I was invader. Detectable in tone, frequency, and accompanied by bird hovering a few feet above my head – I remember wishing I had on a hat!
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No one knows why mockingbirds mock, but I’m glad they do! I wish we had some here.
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