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nurturing a dove

Posted by well-wisher on August 2, 2011 - 12:28
from the ABC set Poems

The child’s eyes widen,
behind binocular lenses,
watching as featherless hatchlings
grasp for air with tiny talons;
tender mums and fathers feeding
crop milk to their hungry young
pillowed on billowing breasts;
mothers knitting little Edens
within eaves of roofs above,
twining twigs and grass together,
while their fathers go and gather.
“See mum, that’s how it’s done”,
they say with a love of life
that will never ever leave.

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Comments

skinner_jennifer | August 2, 2011 - 15:19

Hi John,

I'm sure you knew I'd love this, it's so full of
love and tenderness and also the beauty of nature.

Such a wonderful read.

Thankyou.

Jenny.

well-wisher | August 2, 2011 - 18:11

Thanks,Jenny. I do think that learning to love nature
is part of a good moral education because it teaches you to value life, to respect other living things (including other people); it broadens your mind, reminds you that life can be beautiful and that the world is much bigger than human society and its petty
concerns.

JoHn

Highhat | August 3, 2011 - 06:57

"Mothers knitting little Edens" really lovely JoHn

;)Pia

well-wisher | August 3, 2011 - 15:59

Thankyou, Pia. I only recently discovered
that doves(and pigeons) produce a kind of
milk but, immediately, it struck me that they would make a very good symbol of the maternal/parental.

JoHn

Highhat | August 4, 2011 - 04:37

Oh I Had no idea that they produced milk- but do the baby doves nuture on that? Sounds a bit difficult with a beak etc. Must look it up. I thought you meant the new corn they fed their babies on. I find homing pigeons fascinating.

;)Pia