Is it spring, is it morning?
I can’t stop thinking about my walk yesterday. It was the kind of day that makes you want to write about it with such perfection that everyone reading will instantly know just how you felt. I rarely posses that sort of talent… but Mary Oliver does. She is a true master. Her poetry never fails to speak what my heart is saying.
Such Singing in the Wild Branches
and finally I heard him
among the first leaves –
then I saw him clutching the limb
with his red-brown feathers
all trim and neat for the new year.
First, I stood still
Then I began to listen.
Then I was filled with gladness –
and that’s when it happened,
to be, myself, a wing or a tree –
and I began to understand
what the bird was saying,
stopped
for a pure white moment
while gravity sprinkled upward
and in fact
it became difficult to tell just what it was that was singing –
it was the thrush for sure, but it seemed
and also the trees around them,
as well as the gliding, long-tailed clouds
in the perfectly blue sky – all, all of them
And, of course, yes, so it seemed,
so was I.
Such soft and solemn and perfect music doesn’t last
It’s one of those magical places wise people
like to talk about.
One of the things they say about it, that is true,
you’re there forever.
Listen, everyone has a chance.
Is it spring, is it morning?
and does your own soul need comforting?
Quick, then – open the door and fly on your heavy feet; the song
may already be drifting away.
For those that are curious, the birds pictured from left to right are:
A displaying male Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater).
A pair of Lark Sparrow (Chondestes grammacus) — they had literally just finished mating!
A singing Wrentit (Chamaea fasciata).
Bliss. Peace. Beauty. Joy. Everything I want to have in my life! I hope that Spring is bringing all of these things to you too. We all deserve at least a little bit of this every day.