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Ballade to the Red Knot Sandpiper
Before the days you mammals stomped about,
When nights reclined in darkness pure and deep,
Our people sang and squinted, peering out
Above the mud if tides were spring or neap,
Obsessed by silver light the moon would seep.
She called our eggs and dreams to amplify,
To reach where horseshoe crabs could never creep:
Behold our children stretched across the sky.
The yearning filled our shells, its whispered shout
Incessant. Generations sought to leap,
To fling themselves and grasp her cold redoubt,
Attaining only death, a drying heap
Of bodies cracked and stinking. Still, we'd keep
Attempting, striving, life a strangled cry.
Reproaches echoed. Sell our future cheap?
Behold our children stretched across the sky!
In time, a bird evolved, a certain stout
And ruddy sort who gave a squeaky peep
To offer partnership: "Your eggs'll sprout
Within our wings to span the globe and reap
Uncounted benefits!" The price is steep—
They eat the eggs—but granting strength to fly
Combines our souls with theirs. We cannot weep:
Behold our children stretched across the sky!
Along the shore, a million eggs asleep
Will waken into crabs and likely die,
Or merge with birds and soar. We watch them sweep,
Behold our children stretched across the sky!
When nights reclined in darkness pure and deep,
Our people sang and squinted, peering out
Above the mud if tides were spring or neap,
Obsessed by silver light the moon would seep.
She called our eggs and dreams to amplify,
To reach where horseshoe crabs could never creep:
Behold our children stretched across the sky.
The yearning filled our shells, its whispered shout
Incessant. Generations sought to leap,
To fling themselves and grasp her cold redoubt,
Attaining only death, a drying heap
Of bodies cracked and stinking. Still, we'd keep
Attempting, striving, life a strangled cry.
Reproaches echoed. Sell our future cheap?
Behold our children stretched across the sky!
In time, a bird evolved, a certain stout
And ruddy sort who gave a squeaky peep
To offer partnership: "Your eggs'll sprout
Within our wings to span the globe and reap
Uncounted benefits!" The price is steep—
They eat the eggs—but granting strength to fly
Combines our souls with theirs. We cannot weep:
Behold our children stretched across the sky!
Along the shore, a million eggs asleep
Will waken into crabs and likely die,
Or merge with birds and soar. We watch them sweep,
Behold our children stretched across the sky!
I'm a little confused about the "waken into crabs" line. I think it means the hatchings are preyed upon by crabs, but I wasn't sure if it meant some of the hatchlings were crabs. Likewise I was confused at first about the early stanzas, since the creatures described didn't seem to be the titular birds, though I figured later that was because you had the species evolving. Mostly a message about a common enough evolutionary strategy: have enough offspring to ensure some survive predation. I can't find any fault in the rhyme/meter.
>>Pascoite
Thanks, Pasco:
This is all based on the relationship between the red knot sandpipers and the horseshoe crabs of Delaware Bay. The crabs lay their millions of eggs just as the red knots are passing by on their thousand-mile migration from South America up to the Arctic. So this is looking at things from the crabs' POV: either the eggs hatch and become crabs, or they get eaten and become the birds who eat them. I'll look for a way to make that clearer.
Mike
Thanks, Pasco:
This is all based on the relationship between the red knot sandpipers and the horseshoe crabs of Delaware Bay. The crabs lay their millions of eggs just as the red knots are passing by on their thousand-mile migration from South America up to the Arctic. So this is looking at things from the crabs' POV: either the eggs hatch and become crabs, or they get eaten and become the birds who eat them. I'll look for a way to make that clearer.
Mike