Ho! Mister Titmouse please come here
Will you most kindly lend an ear?
I have a favor to request
And it will take you from your nest,
But only for a day or two,
So let me ask without ado.
Dear bird, my Sufi friends all live
In far off lands; I’d like to give
My love to them, but cannot find
A chance to speak my heart and mind.
And here you are, an aeronaut;
Can your kind services be bought?
I’ll pay you well in sunflower seeds
And pad your nest with supple reeds.
Now tell me, friend, can we proceed;
Will you fulfill my earnest need?
What’s that you say, you’re more than glad
To fly up from your helipad
And visit all my dearest friends
And tell them that my spirit bends
In their direction night and day
And that for them I wish and pray
For perfect health and spirits high
And peace as vast as heaven’s sky?
Sir Titmouse dear, I thank you well;
There’s one more thing I’d have you tell:
Please tell my friends that you yourself–
That you, dear gracious wingèd elf–
Comprise the message of my heart:
Your chirping song, your volant art,
In fact your every little twitch,
Bespeaks the gentle beauty which
I find so clearly present in
The friends who are my spirit-kin.
Dear friends, I pray your lives be blest
With softness like my envoy’s chest,
And may your life, the whole year long,
Resound with strains of titmouse-song!
Surya