Birdsong

Birdsong 

***

I looked outside 

my window 

I saw bird 

it beckoned me 

To come outside 

and play

its voice 

was haunting 

like an angel 

it sang to me 

to live today 

I left my four walls 

followed the bird

as I flew off 

into the deep 

blue sky 

with the Good Green Earth 

below me 

I relaxed 

let out a 

peaceful sigh 

But then I looked down 

Saw the people 

They were building castles 

going off to war 

they were ruled by 

greed and desire 

they had enough 

Why did they want more? 

I heard the 

song of that bird 

Its message was 

peace and humility 

The people's ears were 

deaf to its pleas 

I was left 

with a sense 

of the futility

Won't you come back, divine love 

Come back today 

won't you come back, divine love

Come back and stay 

Please don't leave us looking down

Looking down from the moon

won't you come back, divine love 

Come to us soon

I saw a mother 

holding her child 

she was teaching 

her daughter 

how to write 

her husband 

came home drunk

He's out of work

He started up 

a violent fight 

I saw the working poor 

trying to live 

they were waiting for food 

In soup kitchens lines 

I saw the Regal 

kings and queens

They did laugh 

as they drank their wine

the earth well it's 

rivers were crying 

Its mountains were raped 

Its trees all torn down

what had been 

wide green open spaces 

We're now filled 

with people and towns 

I saw the shamans 

trying to live 

they who had lived 

within the land 

I saw their ghosts 

dancing around 

the fires 

their lives had been

turned to sand 

Won't you come back, divine love

Come back today 

won't you come back, divine love

Come back and stay 

please don't leave us looking down

Looking down from the moon

won't you come back divine love 

Come back to us soon

I began to fall into a panic. 

as I fell out from the sky 

As I looked down 

upon the suffering 

in my heart was 

the question why? 

All I wanted 

was to understand 

What was the

great misfortune? 

This plague 

which had swept 

across the land 

But the bird 

it had flown 

I found myself 

upon the ground 

As the floodwaters 

did rise 

I knew then 

without a sound 

Out at sea 

I did see Noah 

His ark it was 

shimmering and grand 

There was sadness 

in his eyes 

He returned 

to finish a plan 

Won't you come back divine love 

Come back today 

won't you come back divine love

Come back and stay 

Please don't leave us looking down

Looking down from the moon

won't you come back divine love 

Come to us soon 

On that arc I did see hope 

in the eyes of a newborn child 

she carried within her the promise 

of a future, both free and wild 

As I did go under the water

I caught a final sight of that bird 

there were tears in its eyes

its song had not been heard

Won't you come back divine love

Come back today 

won't you come back divine love

Come back and stay 

Please don't leave us looking down 

Looking down from the moon

won't you come back divine love 

Come to us soon 

*** 

Birdsong was written by David Penn Trinley Arndt based on a vision he had in the Black Mountains of Wales in September 1992. The words were revised in October 1998 and completed on May 26th, 2022.

***

© David Penn Trinley Arndt 2022

*** 

Artwork by Delores Develde