Dee Dee Dee Dee Dee Dee Dee

White-throated sparrows do a happy
dance to scratch back the leaves.
Instead of going tweet, they go dee dee dee dee dee dee.

Robin points them out there hopping near the clay
fish. If binoculars didn’t hurt my eyes, I could see
them better—white-throated sparrows doing their happy dance.

There are more birds perching over on the fence,
but those are just finches,
who peeve us by eating all the bird seed, only saying tweet.

You’d think they’d have enough to eat,
but can they preserve their assets against thieves,
like the chipmunks who regularly dance on the feeders,

spilling the bird seed
on the ground. How we grieve
at the havoc they wreak, while the birds say tweet!

But the white-throated sparrows are so cute!
Maybe they’ll stay the winter; if not, at least they’ll leave
us their happy
dance, dee dee dee dee dee dee dee.