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Lost love song
We’ll never forget
songs sung in days listening
enthralled, delighted
with whispered answers near dawn
paired honeyeaters waiting
young birds ignoring
tunes for the music of love
lost to yesterday
honeyed melodies regal
rare songs now imitations
losing customed voice
once heard with morning breezes
swelling spring airwaves
with songs for mates left lonely
searching for lost lovers’ tones
no chance for learning
known mating calls, enticing
young lovers’ delights
calls like currawong
with cuckoo shrikes cheating love
avoiding the song
to distract wild attention,
love left too late
once long chosen melodies
are replaced with strange new calls
warbling unusual
songs taking up others notes
false for listeners
young regent honeyeaters
craving unfulfilled by mimic
woodland overtures
from another breeding group
felled ironbark bush
leaves raucous songs, lone birds
expecting nectar and mates
learning songs again
pure bush lines memory hides
land cleared records gone
for regent honeyeaters
lost to forest destruction
(published in 'Poetry for the Planet’ Litoria Press, 2021)
https://www.litoriapress.com/poetry-for-the-planet-anthology
