The Mockingbird—Two Years
This morning, having gone out to harvest the red peppers glowing in the garden overgrowth, I heard a familiar song. Songs, rather. A mockingbird! He was perched in the acacia alternating songs with preening, throat pulsing with melody. Perhaps he was the same mockingbird that had serenaded us for two years. Through 2008 and 2009, he frequented the pages of my letters and journal.
from a letter dated Friday, April 18, 2008
Today, my treasure-casket held a little mockingbird—and such an uncommonly perky fellow he was! He sat perched on a high, slender twig, his velvet breast trembling with the passion of his song. Songs, I should say, for his repertoire must have included well nigh twenty calls. One would have thought a thousand kinds of birds were holding a concert in the acacia trees!—such outpourings of blithe music, each different song tumbling over the other in an enchanting swirl of twitters, trills, and chirps.
from a journal entry dated Friday, April 18, 2008
This happy, clever impostor has been singing his little heart out for well nigh two hours now ....I wish that I might praise my Heavenly Father so tirelessly and gladly as does this mockingbird which he has sent me. O! for a thousand tongues to sing! What a noble thought--but, Lord, all I can ask is that the one tongue I do have would be used today and every day for your praise and sole glory. "Take my tongue at let it be filled with messages from Thee, filled with messages from Thee."
from a letter dated Tuesday, May 6, 2008
The mockingbird can still be heard in the early afternoon, but he appears to be much busier than usual. I believe it is a good sign that he is helping a certain little lady build a tiny home.
from a letter dated Tuesday, April 21, 2009
My mockingbird has returned. Perhaps you remember him? Several weeks ago, he woke me up at three in the morning with his rhapsodies. I was not thrilled at the time, but I do enjoy listening to him in the daylight, once I am meant to be awake!
from a letter dated Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Oh, that mockingbird! For the months of May and June he sang incessantly from dawn to dusk (though he never did wake me up at night again). It was difficult to believe that all that music came from one little bird. And he was so loud! Our comments on him varied from affection to grinning tolerance to outright frustration. A frequent complaint of our scholars was: "I can't THINK with that bird!" He is very quiet now, however, and busy: perhaps he has a brood to care for.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010