little rude in only referring to my friend as "Blackbird" this far into
our new aquaintance, I started poking around in Google. So I've
christened him Sixpence, after the song of the same name and in memory
of his four and twenty less fortunate brothers that didn't escape the
attentions of the baker; albeit I understand they came through their
ordeal none the worse for the experience in the end.
In hunting for inspiration for a name, I came across a poem by a poet
I've not read before. It's very evocative of where I live, here in the
West Country of the UK.
Adelstrop
Yes, I remember Adlestrop --
The name, because one afternoon
Of heat the express-train drew up there
Unwontedly. It was late June.
The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat.
No one left and no one came
On the bare platform. What I saw
Was Adlestrop -- only the name
And willows, willow-herb, and grass,
And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry,
No whit less still and lonely fair
Than the high cloudlets in the sky.
And for that minute a blackbird sang
Close by, and round him, mistier,
Farther and farther, all the birds
Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.
Edward Thomas, 1917
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