JOURNAL: June 1, 2006

On this first day of June, I enjoyed a soft chorus of sounds in the early morning as I worked at my desk. I was up at 4:00 a.m., as usual, sitting under the yellow lamplight and making my way through some spiritual reading, when I began hearing a quiet tapping somewhere outside. It was a gentle, rhythmical sound, somewhat like the sound a flagpole rope makes against the pole on breezy day. I continued reading (and then writing) with the peaceful tapping sound in the background of my thoughts. Soon, I heard the first few birds begin their songs. It sounded like a group of birds singing together in the far distance, as if they were the chorus assigned to announce the coming of daylight. Theirs was the only song for a good forty minutes – just a few happy choristers heralding the start of another day. After a while, they were joined by a few solitary singers in the trees, including one with a lovely squeaky voice just outside my window. My favorite, as usual, was the bird who sings only two notes – a high and a low one – over and over. (I think it might be called a peewee.) He (or she) doesn’t seem interested in fancy melodies or showy performances – just in doing a simple song as well as possible. As I listened to this morning music and typed at my computer, I tried to write simple sentences as honestly and directly as possible.