Mary Oliver ends Such Silence with:
I sat on the bench, waiting for something.
An angel, perhaps. Or dancers with the legs of goats.
No, I didn’t see either. but only, I think, because
I didn’t stay long enough.
Morning coffee in the garden. Mike and I are about to move inside and get our respective days up and running. We pause, and here comes the hummingbird, whom we had been hoping to see. Settling back into our chairs, a pair of songbirds light in the dogwood which wraps the gazebo’s west side. One of them explores the latticework along the screen, a mere 2 feet from us, the gazebo serving as a blind. Its throat trembles with a melody, and Mike says, ‘If you wait, they will come,’ a twist on a line from Field of Dreams: ‘If you build it, he will come.’
And next, three goldfinches. Following their swooping and chirping path above the garden, the moon about to set comes to our attention. Glory be.
Stay long enough today. Practice the Alexander Technique Pause.