Hi all ~
Here is a short piece I wrote in the
spring of 2003 that I thought you might appreciate...
The other day as I was cleaning off my enclosed front porch to prepare it for summer use, a chickadee flew in to the kitchen. He whacked himself on the window over the sink, turned and tried to fly back out the front door. This time he hit the window of the door with quite a bit of force and fell to the floor where he laid on his back with his little feet in the air for quite some time.
I stood there and wept, uncertain what to do but oh so sad that such a charming small creature had apparently died such a pointless and brutal death.
After about 15 minutes, he flipped over onto his feet and sat there looking a bit stunned. I went next door and one of the rehab guys came over to carry it outside for me. The bird allowed himself to be picked up and brought outdoors, then he flew off in a great flapping of tiny wings as soon as he was released.
I can't explain how very relieved I was that the wee, handsome bird had not died in such a shocking way on my kitchen floor. I was so, so glad to see him take off through the
trees overhead, free in the sunshine.
For the last 25 years I have always kept a small prayer sign in my kitchen wherever I have lived. It reads "May the gifts of the earth be rightly shared. May all our cities be tranquil. May the nations be in love with peace."
Good and gentle people all over the globe have basically been praying the same thing for millennia and yet still in 2003 I want our troops to come home. I want the madness of terrorists to stop. No more shocking and pointless death for anyone, anywhere. May the generations that come after us be granted that which we didn't have: the privilege to
live in peace, free in the Sonshine. And may someone always rejoice when they take wing.
Merme
