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.
