Turdus Viscivorus
A turd on a stick
Mistletoe
Viscus Album
The berry some pick
The Mistletoe Thrush
Blackbirds and Field Fare
Get valuable nutrients
They are aware
The Druids were familiar
With the plant
And they did
Use it for ritual
Really in a bid
To protect and to
Think Peace and Prosperity
At Winter Solstice
You’d be certain to see
Mistletoe takes a full year to seed
It’s by penetration
Birds like to feed
On the berries nutrition
A long time ago
They were called the Storm Cock
As now you will know
An arrowhead marking on the head
Defines this bird
Song thrushes are more spotted
You have my word
Eggs laid at Imbolc
Early therefore in nests
Made of moss grass and roots
And for sure
Mud is like mortar
For a longer tenure
In Autumn the berries
Are god sends for birds
Holly and the Ivy
Hawthorn the words
Used on the tree tops
Rowan and Mistletoe
Apples left on the ground
Where Even the Yew
Berries sometimes are found
Amazingly yew berries
Are deadly to man
But the Miste thrush loves them
And so the plan
Create wintry berries
Aimed at tHe birds
Messengers actually
Ne’er lost for words.
Rex Tyler is a Poet, Campaigner, former owner of an organic shop of 30 years, and Public Speaker living in Berkhamsted, UK.