Hello friends—sharing an essay I wrote nearly a year ago, about a bird the color of the shifting yellow birch leaves, and how the most powerful moments are sometimes the most ordinary.
Lovely essay! Thank you. I experienced something similar just the once, a very long time ago. Sat with a downed swift all night until a storm cleared then took it out to a field and threw it into the air. It. It circled the field once, resetting its inner navigator perhaps, then vanished.
This is so beautiful and dead on. Reminds me of something I once e heard from one of my favorite poets, Li-young Lee, on how poetry has silence the way a cathedral has space: you have to have something physical like stones to actually create that sense of spaciousness. Thank you for this work 💙
“I didn’t know I was lacking the feel of a small songbird in my palm, with wings that could fly but weren’t yet ready to.” I love, love this line and this reflection. What a gift of interaction and ordinary mystery indeed.
I remember and love this essay Freya! The warbler, changing birch leaves, magic of interactions, and your having a Disney princess moment (😌) all so mundane yet beautiful. Thank you for reposting this! 💜
Definitely not trite or mad, but precious in the good way. I find myself wanting to feel that feeling of the bird in hand too. And though it’s mystery is hard to speak, thanks for taking us as close as possible outside of your own head.
I wonder if that bird is still alive winging along, and if it remembers the time it got to feel the gentle strength of one of the giants as it recovered from slamming into some mysterious invisible wall…I wonder if it sings about you?
That’s a Disney movie I’d like to see too. I think you nailed it on your sixth attempt (a year ago when you wrote it). I really appreciate the articulations about how difficult it is to speak the mystical moment 🪶 also about how weirdly truth can twang: the horribleness (poetic word lol) of the warbler meeting untimely stasis, and your wonder and love birthed in that un-ideal circumstance
Such beautiful reflections. Thank you for sharing.
Lovely essay! Thank you. I experienced something similar just the once, a very long time ago. Sat with a downed swift all night until a storm cleared then took it out to a field and threw it into the air. It. It circled the field once, resetting its inner navigator perhaps, then vanished.
This is so beautiful and dead on. Reminds me of something I once e heard from one of my favorite poets, Li-young Lee, on how poetry has silence the way a cathedral has space: you have to have something physical like stones to actually create that sense of spaciousness. Thank you for this work 💙
“I didn’t know I was lacking the feel of a small songbird in my palm, with wings that could fly but weren’t yet ready to.” I love, love this line and this reflection. What a gift of interaction and ordinary mystery indeed.
I remember and love this essay Freya! The warbler, changing birch leaves, magic of interactions, and your having a Disney princess moment (😌) all so mundane yet beautiful. Thank you for reposting this! 💜
"Mystery means a mouth closed, a willingness to not say." Beautifully put. This was such a lovely essay. Thank you.
Definitely not trite or mad, but precious in the good way. I find myself wanting to feel that feeling of the bird in hand too. And though it’s mystery is hard to speak, thanks for taking us as close as possible outside of your own head.
I wonder if that bird is still alive winging along, and if it remembers the time it got to feel the gentle strength of one of the giants as it recovered from slamming into some mysterious invisible wall…I wonder if it sings about you?
That’s a Disney movie I’d like to see too. I think you nailed it on your sixth attempt (a year ago when you wrote it). I really appreciate the articulations about how difficult it is to speak the mystical moment 🪶 also about how weirdly truth can twang: the horribleness (poetic word lol) of the warbler meeting untimely stasis, and your wonder and love birthed in that un-ideal circumstance