The Night Chorus

Onomatopeia

Under angel painted skies in

gloaming crepuscular fairy light 

where sunset softened edges glow

Into a world fired by magic

The night chorus rises

Leading is the cicada chorale

buzzing, clicking, chittering 

whine of droning dissonance 

of the vibrating tymbals

zeea-zeea-zeea-zeea-zeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Competing with the katydid’s

stridulation… almost hear the refrain

katy-did-tshe-did, katy-did-tshe-did

pulsating raucous stacatto zit-zit-zit-zit, 

tsip-tsip-tsip-trill, tsh-rattle-rattle-tsh, trill-zit-zit-tsip

Joining nature’s night chorus

The tree frog sings out over all

His chirping trill crescendos

scree-squee, scree-squee, scree-scree-scree-scree-scree

twee-twee, twee-ee-ee-twee-pip, twee-pip twee-ee-ee-ee-ee

And the June bug is drawn

to the light on the porch

Clack-tswumping at the lamp

And singing all around us

tsyuu-tsyuee-tsyuu-tsyuu-tsyee

The whippoorwill sings his  name 

whip-poor-whill, whip-poor-whill

As the Great horned owl

softly sings who-who-who-whooooo-who

and his mate calls back ah-er, ah-er, ah-er-aer

He’ll not be left out of the chorus, 

the common nighthawk strikes his solo

pee-int, bee-rnt, pee-int, bee-rnt, eeee

And, the cricket sings its steady rhythmic

ts-chirp, ts-chirp, ts-chirp, ts-chirp, ts-chirp

With every never mundane 
always magical backyard sunset
nature’s sacred nocturnal concert
at days end, sings a lullaby of life
in the music of the night chorus

Reviews

[Pryde Foltz]

You have penned a masterpiece, Denise. Wow. I particularly struck by the elegant word choice and use of onomatopoeia. Huzzah!!!

[MomzillaNC]

Thanks so much, Pryde

[Arundass TP]

Brilliantly written poem. Enjoyed reading 👍

[MomzillaNC]

Thanks so much

[Vol]

Momzilla,
What a load onomatopoeic fun! Did you set out with this in mind, or did it grow in scope as you wrote it?
Vol
P.S. Where in NC are you?

[MomzillaNC]

Yes, I set out to write an onomatopoeia of the sounds of night. And, I live in a rural small town in the Raleigh area.

[Vol]

My mom and brother live in Wake Forest, another bro in Rocky Mount. Do you do Open mics? I'm going to be over there Oct. 1st and would enjoy a good reading...

[MomzillaNC]

No. I'm almost entirely homebound. I'm disabled and have a constellation of health issues that make my immune system susceptible.