ONE SPARROW DOWN
Words and music by Sarah McQuaid
Recorded on If We Dig Any Deeper It Could Get Dangerous (2018),
The St Buryan Sessions (2021)
There’s a sparrow at my window
And he’s spoiling for a fight
He’s attacking his reflection
And he’s puffing out with pride
He doesn’t see the cat who’s watching
From the windowsill inside
She stares at him intently
With her gorgeous golden eyes
While he flaps and struts and chatters
In a futile exercise
He can’t banish the invader
Through he tries and tries and tries
He could have built himself a nest
Instead of battling the stranger
But the image in the windowpane
Is all that seems to matter
It’s his enemy and nemesis
To hate and fear forever
The cat is plump and glossy
She’s prepared to bide her time
Until the sparrow falls exhausted
To the ground
And then she stands
And stretches out her back
And takes herself outside
She pads across the grass to find him
And she never makes a sound
One sparrow down
