Mejiro

Leaf 22 – Garden Poems

 

Mejiro are a very common and very beautiful bird here in Japan. They are quite small, about the size of a sparrow and move in much the same sort of manner with a similarly cheerful, songlike chirp. They have bright green plumage and a distinctive white circle around their eyes. Like goldfinches, you tend to hear them before you see them – and when you do see them, they are quite eye-catching. This poem was written in response to seeing lots of mejiro flocking through a grove of plum trees festooned with sweetly fragrant blossoms at Jindai Botanical Gardens last year.

 

 

 

JINDAI, 2024

 

My eye and ear,

chasing the mejiro

through the plum blossom.

 

 

 

All photographs by Tim Chamberlain at Jindai Botanical Garden, 2024.