WoodSong- Off the Beaten Path

The Rarest of the Rare

Cindy — Sun, 19 May 2013 05:00:20 +0000

There was nothing to do but wait. It is always like this for naturalists, and for poets--the long hours of travel and preparation, and then the longer hours of waiting. All for that one electric, pulse-revving vision when the universe suddenly declares itself.

(Diane Ackerman, The Moon by Whale Light and Other Adventures

*view more of my recent Kirtland's Warbler photos here.

Such Singing in the Wild Branches

Cindy — Sat, 18 May 2013 03:04:30 +0000

It was spring
and finally I heard him
among the first leaves -
then I saw him clutching the limb

in an island of shade
with his red-brown feathers
all trim and neat for the new year.
First, I stood still

and thought of nothing.
Then I began to listen.
Then I was filled with gladness -
and that's when it happened,

when I seemed to float,
to be, myself, a wing or a tree -
and I began to understand
what the bird was saying,

and the sands in the glass
stopped
for a pure white moment
while gravity sprinkled upward

like rain, rising,
and in fact
it became difficult to tell just what it was that was singing -
it was the thrush for sure, but it seemed

not a single thrush, but himself, and all his brothers,
and also the trees around them,
as well as the gliding, long-tailed clouds
in the perfectly blue sky - all, all of them

were singing.
And, of course, yes, so it seemed,
so was I.
Such soft and solemn and perfect music doesn't last

for more than a few moments.
It's one of those magical places wise people
like to talk about.
One of the things they say about it, that is true,

is that, once you've been there,
you're there forever.
Listen, everyone has a chance.
Is it spring, is it morning?

Are there trees near you,
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.

(Mary Oliver)

Remembering..

Cindy — Sun, 12 May 2013 18:37:03 +0000

Me and my beloved Mother and Granny- 1984

But as long as you remember what you have seen, then nothing is gone. As long as you remember, it is part of this story we have together.

Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony

Songs of Spring

Cindy — Wed, 08 May 2013 02:42:31 +0000

Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems.

(Rainer Maria Rilke)

Facing the Sun

Cindy — Thu, 02 May 2013 01:00:19 +0000

Keep your face to the sun and you will never see the shadows.

(Helen Keller)

To Live in This World

Cindy — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 02:31:03 +0000

Every year
everything
I have ever learned

in my lifetime
leads back to this: the fires
and the black river of loss
whose other side

is salvation,
whose meaning
none of us will ever know.
To live in this world

you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it

against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.

(Mary Oliver)