Black Crow Talkin' To Me

Haiku My Heart
April 29, 2011

Haiku My Heart is a creation by Rebecca who pens the recuerda mi corazon blog. Check it out HERE for more Haiku and find out how to participate.


NOTE: As I went to link my Haiku My Heart offering, I found out about the passing of a wonderful soul. An artist, a healer, a wonderful wise human being. I have shared many a thought with her as we both loved the Great Lake Superior and, in fact, all the great lakes.

Deborah Gilchrist, may she rest in Peace

Most every day I play a little game with my charges. The two middle Grandkids. The older 13 year old leaves for school an hour earlier and the younger 4 year old is taken to day care. I am left hanging with the 7 and 11 year old. I help with breakfast and make sure they have their school backpacks ready to go, boots or shoes, jacket and what-not.

The game is about whether or not I will drive them to school. They know I like to go to the Dish and the Spoon Cafe. They also know I usually leave right after their school bus takes them away. They are so smart that they know I drive right near their respective schools and can easily give them a ride. We tease and leave the actual verbal instructions of, "Okay, go get in the van, I'll give you a ride this morning." until the last possible moment. All with smiles and laughing.

A side bar to this little game is that we pick a song to sing every day as we drive the few minutes it takes to get to Rocky Branch and River Falls Public Montessori. This was started by me just picking a song and singing it. Through repetition, they learned the words. Lately, we have hammered out "Rockin' Robin" ad nauseum, but the past has seen great hits like "16 Tons" and Shirley Ellis' famous "Name Game".

You haven't heard nuthin' like a six year old little girl beltin' out "I got one fist of iron, the other of steel, if the right one don't get ya, the left one will"

The other day, tiring of Rockin' Robin, we wanted a new song to sing. No one had an immediate idea. I told the kids I'd write a song and that I'd done that in the past. The first lines turned out to fit, in syllables, what I have been doing on Fridays here at Haiku My Heart. So, here are the first lines of a new song we'll be learning and singing on our way to school from Spadoville.

Black Crow talk to me

Teach me how to fly, make me

A dot in the sky

The black crows make a racket most mornings around here all year long. What are they saying? What do we want to say to them? Their speech sounds like complaining, but surely they can't be that curmudgeonly. Maybe they're answering our age old questions or telling  us how it is to be able to fly. Okay, so maybe there are some complaints about the scraps left near the trash cans. Maybe they're out of bourbon. I know one crow that drinks nothing but Remy Martin Cognac.

Please drink in moderation, don't drink and fly.

So, here are a few possible verses for our new song:

Black Crow talkin’ to me

Tell me what you see

Black Crow talk to me

Teach me how to soar in the sky

With the buzzards and the eagles up high

Make me a dot in the sky

Show me the way to go home

Wake up the neighborhood

Don’t leave me alone

Black Crow talk to me

Share with me what you see

Share with me what yer talkin' about

Let me see from way up high

Show me the secret, teach it to me

Let me fly away home

Let me tell you, there are not many better ways to spend part of an hour in the morning than singing with children. So many times, we play yet another game. As we sit around the table at dinnertime. One of the little ones starts it off by asking, "What's your favorite part of the day?" The question goes around the table and each person tells all what that event might be.


When it comes to me, my answer often is, "Driving the kids to school this morning."

Peace to all