First birds.

Common grackle. Red-winged blackbird. Cardinal. My favourite sounds, the sounds I remember from childhood camping trips, from walks around the neighbourhood, from lazy dreamy days. I note their return almost suddenly, just before dawn. My eyes open in the dark and I’m in mid-thought. I hear the birds outside, fluttering from naked tree to naked tree. As they have their own conversations, I try in vain to return to sleep, fluttering from plan to plan. The building awakens, and new ideas become clear. Out with the old systems, the old thoughts. Out with the old declarations and definitions. It’s spring, and soon we will see the brightest green, as if for the first time.