Dedicated to our feathered friends...and other wee creatures!

Lord, make me kind to helpless things ~
The bird that in my garden sings;
The little dog who cannot say
How much he loves me. Lord, I pray
That I may speak a kindly word
To all Thy creatures, beast and bird;
And may my touch so gentle be
That they may find a friend in me. Amen.

~unknown



REMORSE

A hunter shot at a flock of geese
That flew within his reach.
Two were stopped in their rapid flight
And fell on the sandy beach.
The male bird lay at the water's edge
And just before he died,
He faintly called to his wounded mate
And she dragged herself to his side.
She bent her head and crooned to him
In a way distressed and wild
Caressing her one and only mate
As a mother would a child.
Then, covering him with her broken wing
And gasping with failing breath,
She laid her head against his breast...
A feeble honk...then death.
This story is true, though crudely told;
I was the man in the case.
I stood knee deep in the drizzle and cold
And the hot tears burned my face.
I buried the birds in the sand where they lay,
Wrapped in my hunting coat,
And I threw my gun and belt in the Bay
When I crossed in the open boat.
Hunters will call me a right poor sport
And scoff at the thing I did;
But that day something broke in my heart,
And shoot again? God forbid!

~ Lemuel T. Ward


The bluebird carries the sky on his back.

~Henry David Thoreau


THEY MAKE HER THINK OF IRELAND

Once, back in Ireland, a long time ago,
She saw the little people dancing in the snow.
They didn't have shoes on their little cold feet;
They looked as though they hadn't had a bite of food to eat,
But all of them were singing, and their singing sounded sweet.

Now she feeds the little birds that flutter in the snow.
They make her think of Ireland, a long time ago.

~Mildred Bowers Armstrong



A wise old owl lived in an oak.
The more he saw, the less he spoke.
The less he spoke, the more he heard.
Why can't we all be like that bird?

~unknown



I'M STRONG BUT I LIKE ROSES

Once in every lifetime
A little bird may come
alone and forgotten,
knocked down by the sun.
Every man may choose
to turn and walk away,
or take the bird into his hand
and bid him stay.
A man may like roses
and still be big and strong.
And what is life without
a little bird's song?
I'm strong but I like roses,
and if a bird shall come
I'll keep him
till his singin's all done.
I'm strong but I like roses,
and when he has to fly
I'll pick another rose
and watch the days go slowly by.

~Rod McKuen



I want to sing like birds sing
Not worrying who hears or what they think.

~Rumi



THE PELICAN

A wonderful bird is the pelican,
His bill will hold more than his belican.
He can take in his beak
Food enough for a week,
But I'm damned if I see how the helican.

~Dixon Lanier Meritt



God bless the little things at Christmastide,
All the little things that live outside,
Little cold robins and rabbits in the snow.
Give them safe faring and a warm place to go.
All the little young things for His sake who died
Who was a little thing at Christmastide.

~unknown


"Tame Ducks"


~"Feed the Birds"~


from "Mary Poppins"