There In The Gray Of The Morning Poem by Francis Duggan

There in the gray of the morning in the faint winter
sunlight
I saw a bird once familiar once to me a common sight
Greenfinch brought here by the white man and introduced in
this Country
In his drab green cloak of winter chirped on the mirror
bush tree.

Seeing and hearing the green bird stirred memories of far
away
Of the green hedgerows of Ireland in their bright blossoms
of May
Over the trees of the headland in butterfly like courtship
display
Male in his bright green breeding plumage performed in the
sunlight of day.

Performing for his female admirer the would be mother to be
She would make him a proud father give to him a family
His genes to live on forever his descendants chirp and sing
In the green groves of Duhallow in the warm days of the
Spring.

Above the trees of the headland flitting like a butterfly
I could only gaze in wonder with the wonderment of a boy
At such a thing of great beauty such beauty never will die
Flying and chirping and singing and dancing in the sunlit
sky.

I found the nest of the female when i climbed a cypress tree
A cup shaped nest of hair, twigs and lichen wedged in a fork
i did see
And beautifully lined with grasses such a discovery is rare
A work of natural beauty and built with much painstaking
care.

Her five tiny eggs fragile looking lightly streaked and
bluish green
Such a thing of natural beauty that only in Nature is seen
Something to always remember of such beauty good memories
are made
I still have the mental picture and time has not caused it
to fade.

There in the gray of the morning bird now i often don't see
Greenfinch is chirping and singing high on the mirror bush
tree
Above the trees of the headland years ago and far away
One of his kind i saw flitting in butterfly like courtship
display.