Red Bird

Red Bird Explains Himself

"Yes, I was the brilliance floating over the snow
and I was the song in the summer leaves,
but this was only the first trick
I had hold of among my other mythologies,
for I also knew obedience:
bringing sticks to the nest,
food to the young, kisses to my bride.

But don't stop there, stay with me: listen.

If I was the song that entered your heart
then I was the music of your heart,
that you wanted and needed,
and thus wilderness bloomed there,
with all its followers:
gardeners, lovers, people who weep
for the death of rivers.

And this was my true task,
to be the music of the body.
Do you understand? for truly the body needs
a song, a spirit, a soul.
And no less, to make this work,
the soul has need of a body,
and I am both of the earth
and I am of the inexplicable beauty of heaven
where I fly so easily, so welcome, yes,
and this is why I have been sent,
to teach this to your heart."

Mary Oliver

The male of the cardinal couple that
frequent my feeder most winter days.