Monday, November 12, 2018

WINDOWS IN THE BUCKET--I CAN ALMOST SEE THE MANDARIN DUCK

At a Window


Give me hunger,
O you gods that sit and give
The world its orders.
Give me hunger, pain and want,
Shut me out with shame and failure
From your doors of gold and fame,
Give me your shabbiest, weariest hunger!

But leave me a little love,
A voice to speak to me in the day end,
A hand to touch me in the dark room
Breaking the long loneliness.
In the dusk of day-shapes
Blurring the sunset,
One little wandering, western star
Thrust out from the changing shores of shadow.
Let me go to the window,
Watch there the day-shapes of dusk
And wait and know the coming
Of a little love.
Windows mean a lot in any home, but as one gets older they assume even more importance. They are, literally, in the snowy days of Winter and these  pelting rainy Fall days our windows on the world. 
Recently I decided to try to improve the view from my kitchen table. I asked my cousin's  grandson THE MIGHTY MIKE who sometimes comes by to help me  to pull  up a  metal  double hook pole from one side of the yard  and  bring it over to  be in front of the kitchen window. Then he moved two bird feeders there and  then I ordered birdseed from Amazon.
 The seed arrived and today Yash and I  are placing the seed  in the feeders and I am hoping for action soon. I know birds will flock; we already have hordes of sparrows. 
I do not even dream of the MANDARIN DUCK that suddenly appeared a few weeks ago in Central Park in NYC.They are brilliantly colored and look almost artificial--but there  he is a purple plumed wonder in Manhattan. My friend Mary Ellen  is a bird watcher there and goes out on early morning walks with a birder group. So she was thrilled.  But since the Ducks are from China no one knows how he could fly so far off route.  Maybe he didn't. Maybe he escaped from some rich persons AVIARY in the Upper East Side. 
Mandarin Ducks are symbols of LOVE and a HAPPY MARRIAGE so his landing in NYC is auspicious. 
An auspicious  bird sighting and finding happened  last week in Pawtucket to a good friend of mine.  Maureen was taking her grand children to shop at Savers. She let them go inside with their mother  and make their own choices. While waiting in the car for them, she spotted something yellowish  being  flung around in the strong wind. When she got out to see, she saw that it was a parakeet fighting for its life.
She went over to the fence and started calling and whistling to it.  Finally the bird was able to alight  on the ground near her.  Then  her daughter and grandchildren emerged and  the bird   tried to flop away.
Miriam, her daughter, had the presence of mind to notice an old  piece of sheet in the trash, and she  took it and threw it over the  bird. Maureen was then able to pick the frightened bird up.They put the frightened creature in a bag and drove to a pet store. Maureen bought a cage and bird seed and all the fixings.  
This bird story has a happy ending: it is now ensconced in Maureen's apartment showing no signs of his mishap.
LOVE IS A BIRD THAT CAN FLY INTO ANY WINDOW.


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