No bird sings in the frosty dawn <br />When the salmon swim upstream to spawn <br />And the frosted fields are looking gray <br />Though expect that for November some say. <br /> <br />Yesterday the rain it bucketed down <br />And through the old fields by the Town <br />The river bank high it did flow <br />And so chilly the north winds did blow. <br /> <br />The rooks are cawing on the bare trees <br />And there is a cold chill in the breeze <br />And in the bare field the hungry cattle are bellowing for hay <br />On a very typical November day. <br /> <br />The migrant redwings chirping on the bare hedgerow <br />They've come south ahead of the snow <br />They will fly back north in the Spring <br />To raise their broods and whistle and sing. <br /> <br />To keep warm the mountain hare racing around <br />Too nimble for any greyhound <br />In his furry coat of lightish fawn <br />When the salmon swim upstream to spawn.<br /><br />Francis Duggan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/when-the-salmon-swim-upstream/
