Crossing untamed fields, a distant sound breaks our thoughtful silence. As the brook comes into view, an echoing, dissonant birdsong penetrates our hearts, nostalgia and tenderness for things familiar but dear. A flash of iridescent black amongst cattails, closer, closer still and we see the crimson shoulders, wing fanned protecting his mate and the nest. We sit in tall grass far enough away that they will still comfort us with their otherworldly yet joyful call.
