Today’spoem

We’re two bedraggled jackdaws Sitting on a wall, His name’s Peter, My name’s Paul. We’re sitting in the sleety snow, Our feathers are a mess. We really need sou’westers, Or a thermal vest. Unlike some of the other birds That folks welcome with delight, Pete and I get ‘shooed’ away, It really isn’t right. They hang out nuts for the blue tits And buy mealworms for the robin. They don’t like birds that walk like us, They like little ones a-bobbing! The lark shows off his tuneful song Up in the sky above, The blackbird sings, the linnet warbles, You hear a ‘coo, coo’ from the dove. But you don’t need your hearing aids To hear our raucous din. We don’t twitter quietly, We sound like nails scraping down a tin. And, of course, we’re really greedy — You put out food, we’ll eat the lot. No need for anything special, We’ll eat anything you’ve got. And if we’ve frightened off Those pretty birds with golden beaks, Don’t throw stones at Pete and me — ’Cos we’ll still be back next week! A. Bass, Theydon Bois, Essex.