Thanks Patti.  A marvelous red bird is visiting the yard most days.  It
certainly cheered up this very gray Solstice.

Happy birding,
Pat


On Sat, Dec 21, 2013 at 3:43 PM, Patti Haynes <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> Happy Solstice birders!
>
> The following is a poem written by Mary Oliver that I felt fit the
> occasion:
>
>
> RED BIRD
>
> Red bird came all winter
> firing up the landscape
> as nothing else could.
>
> Of course I love the sparrows,
> those dun colored darlings,
> so hungry and so many.
>
> I am a God-fearing feeder of birds.
> I know He has many children,
> not all of them bold in spirit.
>
> Still,for whatever reason----
> perhaps because the winter is so long
> and the sky is so black-blue,
>
> or perhaps because the heart narrows
> as often as it opens---
> I am grateful
>
> that red bird comes all winter
> firing up the landscape
> as nothing else can do.
>