This is a time of year when we may expect moments of aloneness, even isolation.
This is an aspect of the human experience that can be most difficult, but, sometimes in a moment of deepest solitude, we may form a connection that inspires. This poem was inspired by such a moment.
A Gratitude for Chickadees
Snow all night
into morning,
my first time
snowbound alone.
I imagine the original winter,
waking to a landscape transformed,
the dazzling, terrifying purity.
What could possibly follow?
Pacing these rooms,
looking out windows
for a trace, a blemish, a print,
I catch a glimpse of wing,
chickadees come for the gleaming seeds
in the window feeder.
I see everything about them,
the bright eyes, the black caps,
the seeds held perfectly whole
in the slight beaks.
Stepping outside
in the huge quiet
of just snow,
I see
the drooping cedar,
laden with life
a recital of feathers,
pulses, quivers,
a hundred tiny tunes.
And I am the audience,
big
and dumb
and grateful.
Ruthanne “Rufus” Collinson is poet laureate for the city of Gloucester.
