follow the old birds, don't eat them

from the sea  (5) - Baubo’s bird ludes by freda karpf

Mrs. Scattergood’s family had very few traditions.  Celebrating birthdays wasn’t in their vocabulary. She did not feel deprived.  But once the idea of celebration caught hold she found reasons for many recognitions and celebrations. She was aware of those communally identified holidays. But those that she adopted were far more numerous and more often than not never to be found on any cultural calendar. She savored the full moons, the seasonal changes. The first days of new seasons were the closest she could get to loving the world as a mother would. These became her doorway toward celebrating the land and water.  Celebrating holidays became her bridge to nature.

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     We may all be a part of someone’s soup and not know it. What stirs you?  The world turning is like the spoon involving the herbs into the soup, moving them down into the whirlpool, the dissipative structure that was one thing but is now evolving, incorporating this spice, that incident, this moment, that phrase, that caring act, this timeframe, into the soup. We are all in the story.  We are always adding ingredients. 

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     What old birds can tell you about maps is everything. They look at life through the journeys they have been on. They have absorbed the memories of all they have seen into their beings.  The trails they know are a layer of being.  Many times they have followed those same improbable trails, in the sun, in the rain, when the clouds were thick or drifting like feathers. If we were to follow their maps they would bring us the goods, a solid world where the green borders of the back ends of rivers are combed by great blues, white egrets and in the evenings, the night crowns. That is, if you come from where Mrs. Scattergood does, your borders will be where you will meet some old birds that will include you in their world by virtue of your presence there. Your woods and rivers may have different old birds. If you follow them, just as Frost has said about the good guide being one that has at heart your getting lost, you will find your place in this world.

Except from riding the waves:  a tale about being home in the world by freda karpf