Wednesday, July 28, 2010

The Bird (A Re-post)

At the break of dawn, I arise from my slumber to face another day in my life.

As I go out to the fields, ready to toil under the soon-blistering heat, I spy a lone maya flitting through the rice stalks. Curiously, it does not flee as I approach.

"Well, hello, pretty bird. What a friendly fellow you are!" I say to it.

It cocks its head, and merrily chirps a response. Even if we speak a different language, it seems that we understand each other quite well.

It keeps me company the whole morning, sometimes flitting around the paddies, twice or thrice even perching on my shoulder. Under the shade of the lone mango tree in the field, I feed it bits of my simple lunch from my hand. It pecks away contentedly.

I am happy. I even fancy keeping the bird for my own. After all, it is a good respite from the solitariness of my drudgery in the field.

But I forget, it is still a bird. It is, by nature, a creature of fleetness and rebelliousness. I would have to keep it in a cage if I wanted it for my own. I could hold on to it tightly, perhaps even clip its wings for it to stay. Yet I chose not to, for it would not feel right to do so.

And as certain things are inevitable, the moment comes when the bird decides to go on its own volition. In the late afternoon sun, I look at it as it flees away, slowly tracing its path of flight as it melts into the horizon of the landscape.

It is now truly gone, and I am sad. It would have been nice to keep me company for a longer time, but that is how things turned out to be. The bird was never mine to start with.

The sun is setting and the day is almost over. As I rest under the fast-growing shadows of the lone mango tree, I reflect:

It matters not whether you have experienced joy or sorrow in the company of something even as simple as a bird.

In that one day of your life, what matters is that you have felt.

8 comments:

  1. drew has left a new comment on your post "The Bird (A Re-post)":

    People tell me that it is good to live life one day at a time. Imagine: a never-ending parade of fleeting emotions, yesterday happy, today sad, tomorrow angry, it doesn't matter. What matters is that you have felt.

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  2. ~Carrie~ has left a new comment on your post "The Bird (A Re-post)":

    Nang si Marya'y matimtiman at mahinhin. Ngayon, mahinhin pa rin... mahinhin humada. Echos!

    Pero this entry brings a certain nostalgia.

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  3. john stanley has left a new comment on your post "The Bird (A Re-post)":

    and just like how we traverse life,

    the destination is not that much important. what matters is the journey.

    Publish this comment.

    Reject this comment.

    Moderate comments for this blog.

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  4. Pipo has left a new comment on your post "The Bird (A Re-post)":

    "It matters not whether you have experienced joy or sorrow in the company of something even as simple as a bird.

    In that one day of your life, what matters is that you have felt."

    Amen. =)

    ReplyDelete
  5. eeeeep, sorry sa mga na-delete ko na comments by accident. bangag na ako kaninang tanghali :(

    Drew: live in the moment, because when it's gone, you can never recapture it again ;)

    Caridad: nahipo (touch) ka ba? hihihihi

    John Stan: echuzerang palaka ka, pwamis! lolz

    Pipo: :D

    Commuter: whynatz!

    ReplyDelete
  6. hihi op kors ikaw ung field, at may dumapong bird, kaso ung bird sadyang mapaglaro lang, ayun lumipad ulit sa iba nman dumapo.altho na sad kang onti, may onting ligaya nman kc dumapo sa yo ung bird, kahit saglit lang, nag leave din ng lasting memory..ahahaha..asan na kaya ung bird na un? LOL :P

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  7. Soltero: tukain mo ako ng bird mo.

    ay!

    hahahahaha

    ReplyDelete