A Storybook by Sara Huber

Magpies in Picardy

The magpies in Picardy
 Are more than I can tell.
 They flicker down the dusty roads
 And cast a magic spell
 On the men who march through Picardy,
Through Picardy to hell.

(The blackbird flies with panic,
The swallow goes with light,
The finches move like ladies,
the owl floats by at night;
But the great and flashing magpie
He flies as artists might.)

A magpie in Picardy
Told me secret things
Of the music in white feathers,
And the sunlight that sings
And dances in deep shadows
He told me with his wings.

(The hawk is cruel and rigid,
He watches from a height;
The rook is slow and sombre,
The robin loves to fight;
But the great and flashing magpie
He flies as lovers might.)

He told me that in Picardy,
An age ago or more,
While all his feathers still were eggs,
These dusty highways bore
Brown, singing soldiers marching out
Through Picardy to war.

He said that still through chaos
Works on the ancient plan,
And two things have altered not
Since first the world began
The beauty of the wild green earth
And the bravery of man.

(For the sparrow flies unthinking
And quarrels in his flight;
The heron trails his legs behind,
 The lark goes out of sight;
 But the great and flashing magpie
He flies as poets might.)

Image Information: "A Bird on a Branch" by Unknown Webpage Link

"Kapot (Pigeon)" by Unknown Webpage Link

"Magpies in Picardy" by T.P. Cameron Wilson Webpage Link