Wilderness Song

(reflections and photos from Falcon State Park, Texas)
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Bare, but for scrub-brush, cactus, and thorns,

Jackrabbits, snakes, and deer,

The wilderness speaks to me of life

And its challenges that we fear:

• thorns of trial

• pinions of pain

• spines of sacrifice

• loneliness of loss

• desolation of death.

How can a bird in this wilderness sing?

Make melody in God-forsaken-ness?

I pondered o'er this mysterious thing,

Then the answer came.  Ah, yes!

It all comes clear in their point of view,

For birds rarely sing on the ground.

When caught on the spines of a cactus or two,

Birds don't make a musical sound!

But they cheerfully chirp when high in a tree

Or soaring on winds that we cannot see.

They sing from above the wilderness,

And rejoice looking down on the thorny mess!

2 February 2008
Mary Sue H. Rosenberger
Photos © Bruce Rosenberger

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