Night Bird
The night bird singing her heart out, right before the dawn;
who can hear you now?
Someone bowing to say their prayers, or an owl on the prowl?
Yet, you choose to serenade the world while it sleeps.
Are you the lullaby of sapphire skies,
when the capricious moon peeks and hides?
Are you the voice of our collective dreams,
the town crier’s rhythmic sighs, as he lumbers through the streets?
Those trilling tones, the ups and downs,
while we are tucked in beds, so sound asleep.
Do you rock us in your cradle song,
swinging us safely in the highest boughs?
Dull brown bird like wet clay, you sing in vibrant color,
If it begins to rain, the soft drops peppering the leaves;
your notes, change each, into small crystal tears,
that reflect the street lights as they patter my pane.
Glorious bird, you are the Diva of my neighborhood.
You grace the mango tree and sing like a soprano
who plays the poor orphan, dressed in rags of dreary feathers,
whose form, disappears against the trunk, as boring as the bark,
but whose song, even heard in unconsciousness, is never forgotten.
Karima Hoisan
May 3, 2021
Costa Rica
*Footnote: The Yiguirro, our National Bird, is the Diva of our neighborhood:)
Digital Rabbit Hole 
Beautiful and evocative! I feel like I’m lying in bed, hearing the bird’s song on the night air.
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Yes Dale!!, like here with the windows wide open..Between February and May it sings, and then we have to wait until the circle goes round, to the next year. Their song, is haunting and so part of our spring-time rituals… Thank you for your comment:)
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A wonderful bird poem! Would that be a nightingale? We had a Whippoorwill that sang at 5:30 am outside our bedroom window years ago.
Dwight
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Yes the Yuguirro is a type of thrush, like the nightingale. Here in Costa Rica, they start singing at 4am about an hour before the dawn. Thank you so much for your comment.
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Interesting! You are wlcome!
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Muy hermoso, en verdad. Me transportaste a un lugar de ensueño.
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Awww muchíssimas gracias Santiago…me alegro que mi ave nocturno pudo transportarte así:):)
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A magical and fantastical creation, Karima. I love it so.❤️🙏😊
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Awwww Jeff..you have made my night with your comment…I’m thrilled, this night bird could sing to you:) Thank you my friend, for putting this smile on my face Ramadan Kareem! 🙏✨
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Indeed, they sang to me so sweetly. You’re welcome, my dear friend. Always! Blessings to you! ✨❤🙏
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Blessings Jeff, Ramadan Mubarak!
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It’s a great poem. By a strange coincidence, I was reading Keats’s Nightingale earlier this morning. The same principle – addressing a much-loved and much-heard bird and meditating on what it has to tell us.
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Thank you so much Robin..your wonderful comment was relegated to the spam pile by WordPress by accident..I just found it today:) and restored it to it’s rightful place.. Yes the Yiguirro and the Nightengale are the same family…and haunt and brighten the early mornings before dawn, in many parts of the world..Isn’t that wonderful?
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It certainly is, Karima. Lovely to hear from you.
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Night bird! So lovely description. I felt her singing.
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Thank you Kaushai..for your comment…I’m glad her song tickled your imagination:)
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My pleasure 😊
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I am completely thrilled that you have written such a beautiful poem to tell us more about this absolutely gorgeous bird in Costa Rica! It felt like a song itself! Wonderful, Habibti❤️❤️💕🐦🌷🤗❤️🌻
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Habeebity…thank you..I have not been very active on my blog this Ramadan, but this bird, sings every night, just as I am about to pray fajar prayers and it’s so beautiful. Aww you are too sweet..so glad you enjoyed my description:) Be safe Ramadan Kareem! ❤️🤗🙏🌴🐦🌈🌸
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Lovely words! Always read and re-read your poems a few times through. They are full of layers and deep questions. A joy to read as always!
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Thanks so much Benjamin..Yes this bird is so special to me..and to our country. Although the drabbist bird of so many colorful ones we have, we still chose him as a National Symbol:) His haunting song, is ingrained on us as it heralds the Spring:)
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That’s really interesting to learn. That’s some contrast to have a haunting song that signals revitalization. But perhaps it makes much sense, indeed. You’re welcome. And thanks for teaching me something new today!
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You know Karima, I heard it in your voice, the way you did all those poems some time back. And it felt so surreal. I kept closing my eyes to think and feel after every line, while listening to the birds outside my own window. There is so much beauty here. Where to begin? What to leave out?
“serenade the world while it sleeps.”
“the lullaby of sapphire skies”
“the voice of our collective dreams”
I’ll have to write the whole poem back again.
Beautiful creation, Karima. Melancholy, Wonder, Joy, all wrapped in this one piece.
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You know, Sundaram, your words, that express such inspiration for me, are true gifts, given generously, each time, my words are able to elicit an effect, an emotion from you. It’s amazing, and a reader such as yourself, one who takes the time to reach out to the poet, and say, “wow you made me feel this…or you made me see that, is as rare as a unicorn!
I feel so lucky that we crossed paths here in WordPress…that you enjoy and get so much out of my poems, and I too, am always sent spinning with impressions, when I read yours and your beautifully crafted short stories..that, as I have said before, suck me in and place me, like a fly on the wall of each scene. Thank you for reading me, for getting me and for being so generous to always leave me words..that inspire me to write…and write and write.
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Oh I am dedicated to you my friend. The beauty of your words take me places. So I reserve them for when I am in good mental space, to draw as much as I can. Sometimes I do manage to express my joy, but mostly I fall short. For I will have to be a better poet than you to tell you what you did well. And that I am not. 🙂 Happy to be just a consumer of poetry. Especially yours. Keep creating. 🙏😀🙏
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“Are you the voice of our collective dreams,
the town crier’s rhythmic sighs, as he lumbers through the streets?” -WOW, that is simply breathtaking!!! This whole piece is stunning!!!! Your words create such a magical, magnificent and beautiful flow!!! I’m truly speechless 🤗🖤💖✨
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Ace!!! I just saw this comment because WordPress had it in my spam folder..and this is certainly not that:):) Thank you so much generous poet, for these words and for truly loving my night bird flow::) Thank you! Thank you! and once again, so sorry for the delay in seeing this gorgeous comment..❤️🤗🌹🙏
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Oh no worries!!!! WordPress is annoying in that way 🤪. Of course!!! I mean every word, I truly feel so lucky to have found you!!! Keep shining and inspiring, you’re amazing 🤗🖤🤍
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I’m going to delve into your blog and read something older and obscure…I love get to know your thoughts, your irritations and your loves, inside your words…You are always new and always thought provoking..Blessings to you dear Sundaram.🙏🌹
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Would be a delight, Karima!
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