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136
My Studio Neighbors
·
W. Hamilton Gibson
13
THE
CUCKOOS
&
THE
OUTWITTED
COW-BIRD
How
has
that
"blessed
bird"
and
"sweet
messenger
of
spring,"
the
"cuckoo,"
imposed
upon
the
poetic
sensibilities
of
its
native
land!
And
what
is
this
cuckoo
which
has
thus
bewitched
all
the
poets?
What
is
the
personality
behind
that
"wandering
voice?"
What
the
distinguishing
trait
which
has
made
this
wily
attendant
on
the
spring
notorious
from
the
times
of
Aristotle
and
Pliny?
Think
of
"following
the
cuckoo,"
as
Logan
longed
to
do,
in
its
"annual
visit
around
the
globe,"
a
voluntary
witness
and
accessory
to
the
blighting
curse
of
its
vagrant,
almost
unnatural
life!
No,
my
indiscriminate
bards;
on
this
occasion
we
must
part
company.
I
cannot
"follow"
your
cuckoo--except
with
a
gun,
forsooth--nor
welcome
your
"darling
of
the
spring,"
even
though
he
were
never
so
captivating
as
a
songster.
The
song
and
the
singer
are
here
identical
and
inseparable,
to
my
prosaic
and
rational
senses;
for
does
not
that
"blithe
new-comer,"
as
Tennyson
says,
"tell
his
name
to
all
the
hills"--"Cuckoo!
Cuckoo!"
The
poet
of
romance
is
prompted
to
draw
on
his
imagination
for
his
facts,
but
the
poet
of
nature
must
first
of
all
be
true,
and
incidentally
as
beautiful
and
good
as
may
be;
and
a
half-truth
or
a
truth
with
a
reservation
may
be
as
dangerous
as
falsehood.
The
poet
who
should
so
paint
the
velvety
beauty
of
a
rattlesnake
as
to
make
you
long
to
coddle
it
would
hardly
be
considered
a
safe
character
to
be
at
large.
Likewise
an
ode
to
the
nettle,
or
to
the
autumn
splendor
of
the
poison-sumac,
which
ignored
its
venom
would
scarcely
be
a
wise
botanical
guide
for
indiscriminate
circulation
among
the
innocents.
Think,
then,
of
a
poetic
eulogium
on
a
bird
of
which
the
observant
Gilbert
could
have
written:
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
