It is the Time

photo credit: Mother Earth News

It was the time of the year

When the blackbirds       flocked;

Red-winged, Rusty, Brewers, Grackles, Starlings, Cowbirds.

Gone were the   competitions

And rivalries of mating,

Nesting, laying, feeding,   and fledging.

Now they gathered as one.

Standing on the trail by   

  the marsh,

They flew over our upturned faces.

photo credit: Amazon.com

Thousands and thousands

Heading to their night roosts.

Each little bird flapped furiously,

While the flock as a whole

Was a slow graceful wave

That undulated over the trees.

It was the time of the year

When the wild grapes hung     suspended,

Dark purple orbs beckoning

From vines that treeclimbed high.

We picked them by the hundreds into   buckets,

Collected the juice to make jelly.

Our fingers becoming purple red

photo credit: Nature Hills.com

As the Red Oak leaves did the same.

It was the time of the year

When the aspens turned yellow

And yellowy brown and

A dozen hues in between.

  

We stood mesmerized

As their trembling thousands

Became shimmering gold

In the breeze, at sunset.

It was at this same time of year

That people started to flock in the   millions.

Students, children, parents, seniors

In parks, on bridges, by roadsides.

Gone were the petty squabbles

Over differences real and imagined.

The threat of climate change

Bound the individuals together.

 

Locations of the Friday for Future protests
Fridays for Future

There was something in these flocks

A sense of hope, the empowerment    of youth,

Relief from fear and paralysis.

A graceful wave undulating beneath    the trees.

Across the Earth people listened to     the land

And renewed their relationships

With ALL their relations.

It is that kind of time.

And here is a nice little video showing the flocking of blackbirds in case you've never seen them: