THE POETRY OF BIRDS - EDITED BY SIMON ARMITAGE & TIM DEE (VIKING PENGUIN)

A family of fledgling tits who, having outgrown the nest roost rather precariously by the roadside, remind me of Emily Dickinson's poem "Hope" from "The Poetry of Birds" anthology.

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

"The Poetry of Birds" is an excellent collection: a veritable aviary of verse.