Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Hallelujahs and Amens


Walks in the Spring are hallelujahs. Ice disappears from marshes and streams and shades of green emerge from buff coloured grasses and dormant branches. There is a din of bird song which scientists tell us has a specific mating purpose, but it sounds like praise to me. I can hardly wait for those April and May saunters.

At this time of the year I still make a point of getting out but we seem to move from hallelujah to amen. The birds that were territorial a few months ago are now flocking together. Last evening we saw a gaggle of blue jays in the top of a tree and when they took flight we counted eighteen of them. Another evening we watched as scores of monarchs landed on a branch to roost for the night. When they were still they appeared to be faded leaves. With each new arrival the others stirred and suddenly there was a flutter of stained glass. It is still a glorious time of the late summer but it becomes an amen and a farewell.

As Ecclesiastes says, there is a time and a season for everything.

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