Poem – Ode to the Mourning Dove

Good Friday morning! I wanted to share a little poem I wrote a week or so ago, celebrating the unsung hero of most of my daily walks. I see mourning doves every day, and they never fail to brighten my spirits and make me smile. From the way their little grey heads bob unceasingly to their placid call which acts like a balm against the mechanical noise of this modern world, the gentle bird is one of my favorite creatures 🙂

Ode to the Mourning Dove

They say the mourning dove is given birth
To sing of happenings upon the earth:
To praise the ones whose actions are of worth
With airy arias replete with mirth. 

To sing a sadder, somber-laden song
The dove as well into the world is drawn:
Two short coos following a first prolonged
Might eulogize a soul whose breath is gone.  

Like seamstresses who operate the loom, 
The gentle bird devoutly hums her tune:
A morning carol or a mourning croon
Entreats the sun or serenades the moon. 

Their benedictions and laments arise
To score the changing colors of the sky:
To welcome every newness God supplies
And fairly wish the emigrants goodbye. 

We give you thanks, oh little bird of grey,
For such sweet temperance that you display
And for your song enlivening our way
As we engage the mysteries each day!