Tag: Inner life

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune–without the words,
And never stops at all,

Emily Dickinson

In recent weeks, thousands of birds were found,  having dropped from the sky in Arkansas, USA –  causing fear in the town’s residents and puzzlement around the world. When I saw the pictures I was less worried about the apocalyptic warnings of the world’s immanent end and more sad on seeing these beautiful creatures fallen to earth.

It left me wondering why birds are so uplifting to the human spirit. They  soar and fly, with an air of lightness and freedom;  we too dream about flying. Emily Dickinson’s quotation above links birds to the hope that exists deep within us, in the soul. Dead or dying birds remind us of our disappointments and wasted dreams. And it would seem that, since ancient times, we have seen in birds some sort of link between our earth and the heavens. They represent something that is within us, or greater than us. They lift us up.  We want to be light even though many of our days are heavy. We dream of freedom, and spaciousness,  even when often we feel constrained. Deep inside we know that part of us is like them –   our  fragile aspirations  and desire for wonder. We too can soar, we can move beyond the constraints of our life or our history.  However, learning to fly takes courage: it often means we have to let go.

Birds make great sky-circles
of their freedom.
How do they learn it?

They fall, and falling,
they’re given wings.

Rumi