Dusky Woodswallow (3/15)

PASSERIFORMES: Artamidae

Artamus cyanopterus  

The Dusky Wood-Swallow

SURELY must you know me,
Friendly and content;
All my actions show me
Freely confident;
With my band of toilers,
When the blue days smile;
Little Jacky Martin
Come to stay a while.

Every town and village
Knows me; every farm,
Mine no wish to pillage,
Mine no will to harm;
Busy in the orchard,
My pest-destroying band;
Little Jacky Martin
Come to lend a hand.

Suddenly appearing
In far forest land--
When you've cut a clearing,
Lo, I am at hand,
Wheeling, soaring, floating,
Where the new fields bask;
Little Jacky Martin
Come to aid the task.

In the chilly weather
See us in the trees,
Huddled close together
Like the swarming bees.
A-wing again and toiling
When the chill days end;
Little Jacky Martin,
Everybody's friend.

The Dusky Wood-Swallow
by C J Dennis (1876-1938)
The Singing Garden (1935) p.37.