"The mockingbird sings" by Lauren McBride

"Mocking Bird" Watercolor on Paper
By J. Artemus Gordon

The mockingbird sings; and, having sung,
Falls silent: from each note its fullness wrung.
Not for all my soft whistling urging more                 
Will it repeat the melody already far-flung.   

  

--By Lauren McBride after Omar Khayyam's “The Moving Finger”

Poet’s Notes:  Who hasn't whistled a birdcall to coax an answer back? I mention mockingbirds in my poem because, where I live, they fill the spring air with their songs, trying to attract a mate. The ritual that follows is an intricate, lengthy and almost comedic mating dance worth its own poem.

Editor’s Note:  Khayyam’s poem may be found here https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/365850.html.