I wanted to write something clever about all that has been lost, about what a miserable hash we have made of this beautiful planet. Because, we have. And we should be ashamed.
But I spent too much time listening to a mockingbird last evening. He sat on a pole and sang an endless song, never repeating. I tried many times to get up and leave. Then he would start anew another verse I had yet to hear. That I needed to hear.
After his concert and my chores completed, I came inside and sat at my keyboard to begin to type. But no words came to mind, nothing typed out. An empty page.
How could this small feathered creature express with skill, such joy? What was his secret?
Because I really need to know.
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Birdsong is a magnificent gift. One might ponder whatever might we have done to deserve it. And perhaps more important, what we need do to preserve it. Preserving, perhaps, should come before deserving.
Thanks for these thoughts. Would that your mockingbird could read them.
Thanks, Clem. And thanks for getting the gang together for this little exercise.
It was my pleasure – and you should know you had a hand in it from a comment you made to last year’s post at GP.
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He’s enjoying the now, without a care for the tomorrow that’s beyond his control.
Nicely put, John.
I don’t think anything clever can be said this Earth Day. As you say, we have ruined this absolutely beautiful planet and ought to be ashamed, and some of us are, but not enough.
Clever words just mask what we have lost. But I’m glad you found a mockingbird so compelling. We have a desert willow tree right outside the dining room and it attracts little desert rabbits, hummingbirds, and butterflies in the late Spring and Summer. I can sit there and watch the show for hours, if I have the time. It helps to keep me sane, and to keep the grief of our situation at bay. Like your mockingbird.
Taking in a birdsong concert is a humbling way to honor creation. Thanks, Heather.
I was about to send an email saying I missed reading your post yesterday but no need. In keeping with your thoughts, I’ve been reading The Gift of Good Land by Wendell Berry. As you like to say, Wendell Berry, damn it! No one else can put our situation is such frank, unyielding terms that are equally inspiring and horrifying. He makes me wish I had done so much more, but also that it is important to keep on doing what we can.
Yep, Jim, old WB has a way of making you cast a guilty eye on some colossal error of your creation.
Thank you Brian. Your post made me think of this famous quote from The Little Prince:
“Goodbye,” said the fox. “And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
…and perhaps the essential is impossible to capture in words!
Wow! Now, Jody, I’m going to have dig up a copy and reread. Thanks. And, thanks for the kind words in the exchange with the gang.
Another lovely, thought-provoking post. Glad I was there to share the evening’s experience with you.
Likewise.