Hardy’s Proud Songsters

Proud Songster by Thomas Hardy

The thrushes sing as the sun is going,
And the finches whistle in ones and pairs,
And as it gets dark loud nightingales
In bushes
Pipe as they can when April wears,
As if all Time were theirs.

You may know Thomas Hardy as an English novelist (Far From the Madding Crowd, Tess of the d’Ubervilles) yet he saw himself as a poet. His themes were often about disappointment in life and love though thankfully many of his poems, such as this one, are about his love of nature. We had a glorious sunny weekend outside, the pine air rich with the sounds of robins, wrens, and white-crowned sparrows. My husband has counted 80 different species of birds on our property and thinks this is the best time of year to see and hear them. Their sounds are proud, as Hardy says, as though they have no cares in the world.

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