“Christmas Sparrow” – Billy Collins – a Holiday Poem

Stories, books, poems, and music are a favorite part of Christmas.  Over the Thanksgiving holiday, we take out the songbooks with popular tunes and solemn carols.  I like playing the songs and reading stories with my children; last night I stumbled on a poem by a favorite poet, Billy Collins.  He’s unusual because he is everyman’s poet and he’s a poet’s poet. (Collins’s Poetry is Balm for the Soul)  Caroline Kennedy included this work in her anthology, A Family Christmas, which I recommend highly.

Favorite Christmas collections

Favorite Christmas books:  A Family Christmas link

 

When I finished reading Collins’s poem, my daughter looked over her comforter with round eyes, asking if the sparrow made it.  I told her he’s tucked into his holly bush just like she was tucked into her bed.  I wasn’t there, but I said I could feel the thrumming of its wings in my own palms.  Good poetry does that.

 Winter sparrow

Christmas Sparrow  

The first thing I heard this morning
was a rapid flapping sound, soft, insistent –

wings against glass as it turned out
downstairs when I saw the small bird
rioting in the frame of a high window,
trying to hurl itself through
the enigma of glass into the spacious light.

Then a noise in the throat of the cat
who was hunkered on the rug
told me how the bird had gotten inside,
carried in the cold night
through the flap of a basement door,
and later released from the soft grip of teeth.

On a chair, I trapped its pulsations
in a shirt and got it to the door,
so weightless it seemed
to have vanished into the nest of cloth.

But outside, when I uncupped my hands,
it burst into its element,
dipping over the dormant garden
in a spasm of wingbeats
then disappeared over a row of tall hemlocks.

For the rest of the day,
I could feel its wild thrumming
against my palms as I wondered about
the hours it must have spent
pent in the shadows of that room,
hidden in the spiky branches
of our decorated tree, breathing there
among the metallic angels, ceramic apples, stars of yarn,
its eyes open, like mine as I lie in bed tonight
picturing this rare, lucky sparrow
tucked into a holly bush now,
a light snow tumbling through the windless dark.

 

Our holiday books for children

Our holiday picture books

 

Dec 11, 2014

0 Comments

About the Author

Mylinh Shattan is a writer who has lived on three continents, served in the Army, worked in corporate America, and taught in college. She loves adventures, in the world and in the mind. Literature is relevant and learning is a lifelong pursuit, so you might as well have a bit of fun along the way.

Stay Up to Date

Rise above the tedium with the TreeHouseLetter. Always learning with a bit of fun.

Latest Posts

Through the Keyhole

3 Min read On laundry and language 2 Book recs Philosophy and Literature Excerpt: David Wemyss essay on speech and conversation * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY * * On the corner of Park and Cherry, I shared my impression of X--- with my husband. Let's say I was less...

The Ever Restless Soul

5 Min read 1 Book rec on creativity 1 Song and artist rec Mother and daughter / parent and child AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY * This is for my friends K--- and M--- and for you, dear reader, but I suppose it's for myself more than anything. For the love of my...

Confusables, Contronyms, and Jane’s Potato Salad

2 Min read Word Nerd special Humor and the paraprosdokian Usage manual rec - The authority on grammar, usage, and style Essay rec - DFW on assignment to research the above lexicon and the Usage Wars AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY * The limits of my language means the...

The Music in the Stories: Pavan on Borges

7 Min read Book rec, three Borges stories Argentine composer and guitarist Carlos Pavan Literature: song and story Perfect memory Music in Prose * AVAILABLE NOW ON PODCAST SPOTIFY * Probably you were expecting a young and handsome Argentine, but then here I am, the...

Beyond Grade-School Sentences: Adding Depth and Texture to Writing

4 Min read Depth and texture in writing Cumulative and suspensive sentences The Music in Prose: Ernest Hemingway, Vivian Gornick, Ralph Waldo Emerson Crayon packs and colors Toolbox, improve writing immediately * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * Grade-school...

On Theft, Death, and the Moon

3 Min read Ryokan, Japanese Zen monk René Descartes, Discourse- Part II on Method and Part IV on God and the Human Soul Rest in Peace to a fallen friend 2 book recs Haiku AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes My friend was recently robbed. It made me sad and reminded me...

The Master Sentence and the Centenarian

5 Min Read One book rec Punctuation guide Sentence construction Language Lover and Word Nerd Special Toolbox, ages 9 to 109 * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * A master sentence tends to be long though length is not its sole characteristic, nor is it a sign of a...

Topics

Inoculate yourself against the absurdity of life with a dose of the best ideas and writing. Always learning with a bit of fun.

TreeHouseLetter

Always learning with a bit of fun

 

 

Readers receive one to two letters a week, with 2 to 10 minute read time. Includes regular features:

 

The Music in Prose
Poetry for Emergencies
Toolbox

 

 

Be inspired by the best writing and ideas, and become better readers and writers in the process.

Thank you for joining! Please check your email for a confirmation.