cock robin

Cherry

By Di_Hard

Sat, 10 Apr 2021
  • 2762 reads
15 comments
 
Who killed Cock Robin?
We, said the workmen,
with chainsaws from our van,
we killed Cock Robin.
 
Who saw him die?
No one - he could still fly,
find somewhere far from any judging eye,
the way all homeless die.
 
On whose conscience his blood?
Not mine, said the land's owner.
I'm sad he's a gonner,
but I'm selling for development and trees don't look good.
 
Now stillness winds, a shroud
round absence of bird, vole, bee, hedgehog, butterfly and beetle,
once stitched together with creation's needle
a beauty for which mankind cannot be proud.
 
Who'll dig his grave?
Those of us who knew his song
for Winter's bleakness will stretch the whole year long
so our lives are made grave.
 
Who'll be the parson?
They won't know from youtube or from a book -
those second hand ways to listen and look -
the joy of  his being there you just can't pass on!
 
Who'll be the clerk?
I will, said the environmental campainer
though some call me nimby complainer
and nothing I do, say, or write seems to work.
 
Who'll carry the link
in the food chain? Blackbird, swallow, lark and linnet
struggle already to find enough in it -
the way things are going, they too will sink.
 
Who'll be chief  in mourning?
Of all those that hug Earth or fly above
we made Robin's breast symbol of selfless love,
his piercing song opened Hope, red as the morning.
 
Who'll carry the coffin
of the one who kept faith with light,
alone, through the night
carrying sun's coffin?
 
Who'll bear the pall?
the blanket of shame we will know
to have let that small wildness he needed go?
You and I, we'll bear the pall.
 
Who'll sing a psalm?
Don't  look for a thrush -
there's only air where had been her bush
no one is left to sing a psalm.
,
Who'll toll the bell -
the sound that shows we don't care at all,
our apathy the rope we let others pull?
Sad Truth tolls the bell.
 
All the birds of the air
fell a-sighing and a-sobbing,
when they heard the bell toll
for poor Cock Robin.
 
 
After reading Onemorething's beautiful poem about Cock Robin
Certificate U
Poem
Inspiration Point (work that responds to our weekly writing cue)

Comments

Submitted by onemorething on

Ah, wonderful Di and so cleverly done. I love how this is deftly brought up to date from an environmental perspective, it becomes a really effective message. :)

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Thankyou! Did not know the original rhyme and would not have written it without reading your wonderful version first. Also Drew's opinion of robins :0) The original is so long, I kept having to look to see how many more verses to go! Luigi would be brilliant at this :0)

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Yes, Luigi could write a wonderful rhyming version, I'm sure. And yes, that's why your rewriting of it is so admirable - I baulked at that idea because it was so long! :)

 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

This is brilliant Di - I don't think I've read onemore's inspiration, so will do that. I am really loving the results of this Inspiration Point!

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Definitely read Onemorething's version version :

https://www.abctales.com/story/onemorething/who-killed-cock-robin

it's delicate and sensitive and clever

 

Thankyou for reading and your kind comment for this. And giving it a cherry :0)

 

 

 

Submitted by marandina on

Such a brutal poem (the original) This could easily be it revisited and updated for today's times along with onemorething's version.

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

It IS  brutal, isn't it? The information about it on Wikipedia is so interesting, it looks like it has been adapted since Celtic times! Cock robin comes from the sound of the Welsh name for Lugh. Then there was a Viking one, and a Norman one. And goodness knows how many others till it was written down in the 18th century. All the people you needed for a posh funeral then!

Thankyou very much for reading and your comment Paul, it is much appreciated

 

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

You've captured perfectly so much of the poignancy of this poem and like Rachel said, brought it right up to date. 

By the way I found these lines so inspiring:-

Now stillness winds a shroud

round absence of bird, vole, bee, hedgehog, butterfly and beetle,

once stitched together with creation's needle a beauty for which

mankkind cannot be proud.

Great poem Di.

Jenny.

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

 Jenny, you always give such wonderful comments :0) Thankyou. Am really glad if you felt it was poignant, the original is very sad. And thankyou for saying which part you liked, as I had wondered if that bit was dodgy

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

I thought the original was supposed to be referring to political events metaphorically somehow. Though I think when younger just liked the ryime structure of it and thought it showed love for robins!

Your poem is reminiscent of 'Silent Spring' by Rachel Carson which came out when I was a student, and was on our booklist concerning responsible use of science. That did spur some significant changes in care over use/abuse of pesticides etc. So changes can happen.

When we are frustrated  by greed and thoughtlessness, it is right to also realise that some who are in great poverty would need a lot of help if they wer to change their way of making a living out of the land.

And also to reflect on our own shortnomings in various areas of our lives! Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Perhaps nursery rhymes were like social media? Easy way to pass on opinions about the news? And the words and rhyme ended up lasting much longer than the event they were about, so got used again and again because everyone already knew the shape? I hadn't even remembered this rhyme, though, it was because of reading Onemorething's poem about it that I looked it up. I like in the original the long list of birds, it reminded me of my favourite jigsaw I had when little, where there were lots of different bird pieces to fit in the rest of the picture, very satisfying to put them in their homes :0)

Thankyou for telling me about Rachel Carson, I did not know about her, or maybe had forgotten. She sounds an amazing person! It is hard not to despair, what with the decision to allow neonicotinoids again, and not banning glysophate. It's like the whole point of Brexit was to get out of environmental protection brought in by Europe

As always you are wise and thoughtful about considering others' point of view :0) You are right. There would have to be a ginormous shift in priorities for someone not to be allowed to clear a small piece of scrubland they owned, in the hope of it being built on, just because others like to watch butterflies on the buddleia and bumblebees on the pussy willow. That the land was cleared was not about greed. I believe a lot of harm is not caused by greed, it is just because we consider ourselves more important than anything else? But that is my opinion only. So I try not to think my wanting to keep that land wild is not more important than someone else's opinion that it is derelict and it would make the town look better if there was a house there. It is thinking about things you have said that is helping me try not to be so judgemental all the time. Just mental :0)

However, on the other side of the road is a public space, which as the council has had cutbacks the last few years has been taken over by a local couple and they have decimated it, it looks like Mordor. Every year they cut the shrubs lower and lower, now only six inches high. The tree my son learned to climb on was cut down because it obscured their sea view. They weedkill all the ground so it is bare all year. It is so SAD  Rhiannon! So many of us are upset, and have tried writing to the council, but they seem not to want to change things. I wrote and said please let me look after it and plant it up with stuff and I would pay for it, but they did not write back, so I feel I have failed the Earth.

So that piece of land being cleared was kind of not the last straw, maybe the last wildflower :0)

Sorry, that was a huge rant! Thankyou very much for your wonderful thoughtful comment

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Just to say, I think in saying about poor people and their use/misuse of land, I was thinking about some making use out of cutting timber down in the Amazon basin to sell I thought (or was it to do with mining there, mining in rather bad cheap ways?), rather than building houses here.

When God made all, he told Adam and Eve to look after the world he had made, and that is why although things are difficult now here, we are still to try to act as good stewards of it all as we can!

You have not failed the earth if attempts you make at what seems helpful don't succeed!! Rhiannon

 

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Thankyou :0) I know some farmers in Britain have to sell land for building because it can be so hard to earn a living from farming. I do not know what I would do, if I had to grow food for my family and to do so had to cut down jungle elephants needed. I do not know what I would do if we were starving and the only way to feed ourselves was to kill a deer - trees have it easy when it comes to ethics :0)

 

Submitted by LittleRedHat on

A harrowing and majestic piece that sadly reflects humanity's misuse and neglect of the natural world.

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

What a wonderful comment, thankyou so much LittleRedHat! I wish I could do something better than just write, so it is great to know that others care too