Winged life

I have a birdfeeder right outside my front door - it's one of the ones that looks like a game of Kerplunk. It took quite a while for the birds to notice it - not least because my neighbour has a five-course buffet for birds in his garden - but eventually I started to hear the sprinkling of seeds falling onto the top step as the birds sat on the little sticks and pecked away. They are now even willing to come and eat while the door is open on sunny days. Today I came home and walked to the top step and heard the sounds of falling seeds and looked slowly up to see a little bird about a foot from my head pecking away. I've never been that close to a bird, and after a few seconds it flitted away. But it was a brief 'holy moment' and I'm thankful for these moments that pull me out of disconnected anxiety and pin me to the Here and Now.

A little William Blake seems apt.

He who binds to himself a joy

Doth the winged life destroy

But he who kisses the joy as it flies

Lives in Eternity's sunrise.

Eternity

To see heaven in a grain of sand,

And a heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

And eternity in an hour.

...

Joy and woe are woven fine,

A clothing for the soul divine.

Under every grief and pine

Runs a joy with silken twine.

Auguries of Innocence