Oh Spirit, oh Great Mystery, oh turning seasons, oh Wild Mother, oh feathered perfection. . . .Hallelujah, the geese are returning, and I saw my first greater Canada by the lake yesterday. Then, as I stood by the kitchen window last evening with a mug of tea, something moved me to wrap up warmly and go outside into the garden for a while and stand under the trees and the clear deep indigo skies with their forest of twinkling stars. Something said firmly and in a voice which had to be obeyed, "just go, and go now, you old fool. . . .".
It may have been a faint hearing, a vague premonition, or just one of those clear and plangent imperatives which occasionally make themselves known at the cusp of the seasons. The evening was cold, but I obeyed the sovereign tug and went out to stand shivering in the darkness for an hour or two, and as I stood there, throngs of greater Canadas were flying right over my head and across the waxing crescent moon, singing their hearts out in wild exuberance as they flew and so glad to be home.
How does one describe one's feelings at such a time? There was a wild cavorting happiness inside which simply cannot be described here, or at least described well - I so wish I could.
5 comments:
Kerrdelune, I heard the wild geese returning this morning as I walked through my garden looking for swelling buds. I felt that same "wild happy cavorting" that you describe (quite well!) and apparently, from the sound of things, so did the geese! :)
How fortunate you are to have this wonderful experience - we are not under the flight paths here so only rarely do I see and hear a small skein of geese going over. One day I want to go to the Fens where the geese flight every dawn and dusk, it's something I've read about and heard about but never seen.
Yes, Rowan, its not something we see here in Dorset either. But we do see the swans flying in and out of Abbotsbury - their voices are silent of course, but their wings sing. So haunting.
I love to hear them calling as they fly overhead at night.
Aaah I was thinking about you last week whilst in the Lake District - we saw many Canada Geese.. I told them to drop bosies on you when they fly home :)
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