There is a tiny bird with a big, clear-noted voice, who sings to me daily from her perch at the top of the large, storm-battered cedar tree in our front yard that my wife, Sue, and I call “Great-Grandfather”. Almost every time I go out to the front yard, or get in my car to drive away for work or on some errand, she sings to me the same song. She is there singing in every season, in any weather good or bad. I have rarely gotten more than a glimpse of her even with binoculars. She is perched so high, and is usually so hidden in the green folds of the cedar branches. From her song and from a triangular, black patch in her light buff or even white breast, I have tentatively identified her as a Lark Sparrow, but I can’t be sure really who she is. I call her my soul bird because she is so mysterious and sometimes elusive, and yet is always there, always singing to me. Her song is always the same: a melody of three even notes, so very clear and pure, then a rising tone, followed by a sustained trilling belted out with all her might as the finale. There is a distinct pause between each of these musical phrases, a longer pause after the final trill section, then she sings it all over again. If I am outside very long she may sing this to me dozens of times, no matter what personal emotional or spiritual weather I am experiencing. When I began to call her my soul bird, I realized I heard a soul libretto to each musical phrase, in each a brief message from my soul. This is what I hear in sequence in the five sections of her song: “Fear not”; “You are loved”; “All is well”; “Live gratefully”; The final, high trilling section is a wordless exaltation of joy and praise in being alive. This is what I hear day after day from my soul bird, because my soul, and my God, knows that I need to hear each of these. This song from high atop Great-Grandfather sustains me and reminds me of what I need to remember to live centered and gracefully each day, no matter the challenges of the day or the particular season of my life. Occasionally, my soul bird changes the message and mixes in new words with the usual melody, when she discerns that I have special need of it, for instance: “You are loved, so love”; “Listen to your inner wisdom”; “You know what to do, just do it”; “You are of infinite value”; Or simply, “Love her”. Always followed by the final, thrilling trill of joy and praise. Soon though, my soul bird’s song returns to the four basic refrains and her aria of pure delight and praise, and sings it to me all day long. Sometimes, I must admit, I don’t hear that I am being sung to at all. I am too pre-occupied with my self or with the silly anxiety du jour whose bone my mind is obsessively gnawing on. Sometimes, it takes me a few moments till I am mindful enough to hear my soul bird’s song. Other times, the most graced moments, I go out the front of my house eagerly expectant to hear her song and be soothed by her melodious proclamation. Then I am lifted up with her to the high branches of Great-Grandfather, and together we sing and fly. The lark sparrow sings I am sure for a mate – which strangely I never see – and perhaps for the sheer joy of singing. In these moments of spirit flight together, my soul bird has found her mate in me. What song does your soul bird sing to you? Patrick
Posted on: Sun, 14 Jul 2013 01:39:25 +0000
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