Monday Morning Musing: In Poetry & in Life

The lovely collection of poems, How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope, (edited by James Crews with a forward worthy of the tome in itself by the wondrous Ross Gay) traveled with us across the country and often has something surprising to offer.

This morning I read two poems about cardinals, those bright brilliant birds who have not managed to migrate to the western United States. On our first Easter in Columbus (2021) we spotted our first showy visitor in our yard, accompanied as always by his less flamboyant but ever faithful mate. Throughout our time there, cardinals heralded something of hope to us.

In this poem by Ted Kooser, the poet had a similar experience. What glory!

Easter Morning

A misty rain pushed up against the windows

as if the house were flying through a cloud,

the drops too light, too filled with light to run,

suspended on the glass, each with the same

reflections: barn and yard and garden, grayed.

Then, suddenly appearing, burning in the quince

that soon will bloom, a cardinal, just one

milligram of red allotted to each droplet,

but each a little heavier for picking up

that splash of color, overfilled and spilling,

stumbling headlong down the chilly pane.