Birds do not mind
If you sit with them among the branches.
The trick to it
is to go there enough
and to sit quietly
so that they get used to you.
Some cracked corn and bread crumbs
helps ease their fear.
I know this to be true
because I've sat there
still as can be and waited
for that flashy red cardinal
to light on a nearby oak limb.
He was startled, to be sure
the first time he saw me~
a twelve year old human
in amongst his domain...
but from what I recall,
he was curious as well.
We sat there
or rather I sat, and he perched,
staring at each other in fascination.
Never before having the advantage
of such close observations.
I didn't realize how bright red he really is, I thought.
I never knew she had hazel eyes, he thought.
I wonder if he will like the bread crumbs, I thought.
I wonder if she's going to be here everyday, he thought.
And so, a truce was made
between cardinal and girl
to be amongst the branches
of a towering old oak at the same time.
He brought friends in the days that followed,
they also let me sit with them.
I got to know them all, by song and sight,
And I realized, I was blessed to be a witness.
It was then, at twelve,
I realized that on some days
Life can be very good indeed.
©Rose Steedley Williams~3/2011
*This was inspired by this amazing video by poet Sarah Kay.
http://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_kay_if_i_should_have_a_daughter.html
Thinking about what she said, about the power of poetry and how we all have poem/stories in us that only we know, this idea came forth. What is one thing I know to be true, from my own experience? The memory of 12 year old Rose, sitting in her tree house, watching the birds come and go among the branches was the first thing that came to mind...and so, I wrote :)
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