Tuesday, January 27, 2009

asleep, smoke, great tit


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High up in the branches of a silver birch this squirrel sleeps, safe from the dogs and children who like to chase it.

I watch as smoke pours urgently from a chimney as though it is looking for something it has lost, and then quickly loses itself.
It makes a haiku:
Smoke from a chimney
Rushes after something lost,
And loses itself.
Head back, I am standing in the middle of the broad central walk of the Grove, and staring up into the top branches of a tree. I feel a bit of a wally as people walk past me; I have my camera in my hand, and I want to photograph a great tit, which I can identify by it sharp, two-tone song "tea-cher, tea-cher", rather than by its appearance. In fact I can barely see it, until I pick up the bird in the view-finder and zoom in, to confirm the distinctive, black band on a yellow breast.

3 comments:

Dave King said...

Loved the Haiku. Excellent!

Unknown said...

Thanks, Dave. I don't think that's happened before and I doubt if it will again. As I finished the description of the smoke I saw the haiku in it. Serendipity or what!

Lucas said...

That sqirrel looks vast. I think it is the angle - at first I thought it was a much larger animal. Great photo!