Chickadee Celebration

It takes so little

to please them –

a few seeds

a bare branched apple

a woodland hollow

 rushing mountain waters

 an overflowing brook.

We celebrate the gift of rain –

Swelling thirsty roots 

are singing

Water is Life.

We are the lush green forest

 breathing deep the scent of light.

 Chickadees gather in

the fruit tree

shaking tufted feathers

 undeterred by sheets

of cascading silver – 

prepared for

winter white,

as I hope to be –

apprenticed to them. 

Postscript: To be saturated by fall rain is to be given the greatest of gifts because as the poem says, Water is Life. Two days of rain, some light, some heavier downpours culminate in more than three inches of water that has  fallen over a long enough period of time to permeate roots and evergreen fingers, fill wells for now, and to bring back the emerald of green mosses.

 This summer of drought has brought me to my knees again and again as I have witnessed myself as a thirst driven root, insect ridden leaf, a cracked trunk, a shriveled seedling, a piece of desiccated moss, a flower that wilted too soon.

Today I pour my gratitude into the sweet earth giving thanks for this reprieve. With warmer temperatures predicted across the country for the winter I am hoping that summer’s drought pattern won’t become a permanent haunting…Whatever happens I have tasted the joy that Nature demonstrates through every winter bird that visits my feeders so enthusiastically – rather than causing chickadees, titmice, woodpeckers and nuthatches to seek cover, the rain seems to create an excuse for celebration! And like them I too am wandering around in the rain, soaking in scent, sinking into plush carpets of green moss and brown needles, watching the brook waters tumble over glacial stone…It is wondrous to witness, to hear how all of Nature sings and to feel that I too am a part of what is.