That first sound splintering the listening dark,
letting the light slip in between the notes —
a blackbird, surely, surer now, his spark
picked up by robins. Liquid tuning floats
through unseen branches, marking territories
of nests and mating, brings the grudging air
its first flushed streak of colour. In the trees
a strengthening music, patterned like a prayer.

*****

D.A. Prince writes: “By a happy coincidence Snakeskin published ‘Dawn Chorus’ on International Dawn Chorus Day  —  the first Sunday in May when the early morning birdsong, (and every bird’s aim to establish territory and seduce a potential mate) is at its peak. You need to be awake early to hear it. I was out just after 5 a.m today and could pick out the differing songs of blackbird, robin, great tit and blue tit: not many species because although I live in a village (plenty of trees) we’re on the edge of a large city (so no open farmland). Still, the blackbirds made sure the chorus was loud and liquid, and the dawn chorus should be as musical for a few more days.

“This poem is not as it was first written but editing has, to my mind, given it a tighter focus. It was originally a sonnet, and covered two ‘choruses’: one, the birdsong (as appears here) and the second the early morning noises as an old house wakes up, with the creaking of hot water pipes and the radio’s news broadcast. Unsure if this worked I put it away for a few months: when it re-appeared I cut the sestet so that all the attention fell on the birdsong.” 

D.A. Prince lives in Leicestershire and London. Her first appearances in print were in the weekly competitions in The Spectator and New Statesman (which ceased its competitions in 2016) along with other outlets that hosted light verse. Something closer to ‘proper’ poetry followed (but running in parallel), with three pamphlets, followed by a full-length collection, Nearly the Happy Hour, from HappenStance Press in 2008. A second collection, Common Ground, (from the same publisher) followed in 2014 and this won the East Midlands Book Award in 2015. HappenStance subsequently published her pamphlet Bookmarks in 2018, with a further full-length collection, The Bigger Picture, published in 2022. New Walk Editions published her latest pamphlet, Continuous Present, in 2025.

Photo: “Dawn Chorus…” by Dave – aka Emptybelly is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.