Tuesday, October 24, 2006

All Things Bright and Beautiful

The streets are quiet this morning, and it will be some time before the pale October sunlight annoints all of the garden behind the little blue house in the village. Today, the enclosure is a small sea of lovely crunchy grass and frosty leaves, squirrels and chipmunks cavorting with abandon on the pine fence and choirs of sparrows and finches dancing about in the shrubbery and along the railing of the deck. I have already topped up the birdfeeders for the day and placed my camera on the old oak table in the dining room, but my visitors so far have been too busy singing and dancing the day in to pause and pose for a photo.

There is an important lesson to be learned from the early celebrants of this late October day. No matter what the weather is like or what shape the morning wears, the furred and feathered residents of my garden welcome the day with heartfelt thanks and praise and without any reservations whatsoever.

There are hymns, chants, canticles and cantrips in the garden this morning - there is a glorious many-parted doxology being sung up there in the ash trees and the beech trees. It all sounds rather like John Rutter's magnificent choral setting for "All Things Bright and Beautiful", and I think he would love it.

3 comments:

Maya's Granny said...

Isn't it wonderful how song birds sing, no matter what else is happening? How they remind us that life is meant for celebration and joy.

Anonymous said...

How very true. The birds and squirrels make their rounds of the feeders even in the early morning dark and drizzle. I can't claim to be quite so exuberant on cool, rainy days!

Endment said...

Blogger ate my comment again :(
The last two paragraphs of this post need to be put up above my computer... Every time I look and only see gray sky or forget to listen to the music around me --- I will read this post and hear the music again!