THE BLACKBIRD

By Robert Nichols

I stand in a sunny garden;

A blackbird sings overhead:

“I'm alive... I've a love... the sun's shining

And where's the man would be dead?”

“Blackbird, make an ending of fluting

That song down your orange beak:

I'm alive... I've a love... the sun's shining,

And — I am the man you seek.”