Monday, May 10, 2010

little birds

i'd rather learn from one bird how to sing
than to teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.

e. e. cummings


may my heart always be open

may my heart always be open to little
birds who are the secrets of living
whatever they sing is better than to know
and if men should not hear them men are old
may my mind stroll about hungry
and fearless and thirsty and supple
and even if it's sunday may i be wrong
for whenever men are right they are not young
and may myself do nothing usefully
and love yourself so more than truly
there's never been quite such a fool who could fail
pulling all the sky over him with one smile

ee cummings

17 comments:

Loren said...

Sounds like my week, steven.

Learning to listen to the birds has enriched the last few years of my life immensely!

Dave King said...

Time I looked up Cummins again, methinks.

steven said...

loen - and the results of your enrichment have in turn enriched all those lucky souls who have ventured into your blog!! steven

steven said...

dave - there's gold in tham thar hills. steven

Elisabeth said...

The poetry is wonderful. The feathers caught my eye immediately, the order of them, their colour, and sadness to think the bird who once wore them is now dead.

Barry said...

I'm heading out to take Lindsay for a brief run, to the meadow where the birds always sing.

Reya Mellicker said...

He knew everything about everything, and didn't even need capital letters to explain it.

ellen abbott said...

Your picture reminded me of Andrew (right, Andrew?) Goldworthy's work. Did I get the last name right too. Can't remember.

Golden West said...

The only time we don't hear birds singing during the day is when a hawk comes around. The crickets take over for the birds at night!

Aleks said...

You should see me grinning and having silent laugh,all the way from inside!! :O) Beautiful!

steven said...

hi elisabeth - the feathers came at the end of a long walk. i was crossing an open space and there they were exactly as i photographed them. i don't know what happened. steven

steven said...

ha barry i woud love to be walking somewhere today. these days that are windy and chilly and yet - they have so much promise inside them. steven

steven said...

reya - wouldn't you love to be inside his head as he wrote. steven

steven said...

hey ellen - andy goldsworthy - such an amazing artist! one of my all-time faves. steven

steven said...

ha golden west - it'll be like that here in a month or so. the hawks are around but they're not working really hard just yet. the crickets - well they must all be deep down inside the earth somewhere keeping warm. steven

steven said...

hey aleks - i'm glad it was so good for you. steven

Dan Gurney said...

Hi steven--

Your post reminds me....

A few days ago we did 60 seconds of absolute stillness and silence in kindergarten. (We're VERY still, hardly a blink; we practice.)

All you could hear was the sound of two cars passing on the road and a mockingbird singing lustily outside the window. What magic!