Cowbird (2006) by Sulis
Just as we've lost
the sacred in water
we scorn this bird
that sings like water
like babbling brooks.
The same bird rode
on the backs of bison
across rolling plains
gone with the wind
with the water gone.
We blame the bird
for usurping nests
not caring whose
children were stolen
taken not caring.
What if we honor
sacred the cowbird
garland with flowers
giving her freedom
to roam unabused.
Perhaps she'd sing
healing the water
no longer lonely
fly with the wind
restoring the sacred.
When I first moved to the Missouri Ozarks, I lived right beside a creek which brought in many birds. This one, makes the most beautiful (to my ear) warbling sound, like a babbling brook. But for my bird-watching friends it was a black sheep, as it has the reputation of a cuckoo for stealing the nests of others. I am always one for the underdog (or bird) and so I wrote a poem for this maligned bird whose voice I associated with water. And to bring in yet another animal, I am making a connection in the poem with India's sacred cow who is allowed to wander where she pleases and treated always like royalty!
