{"id":483,"date":"2009-05-21T02:04:00","date_gmt":"2009-05-21T02:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/?p=483"},"modified":"2014-10-01T03:12:06","modified_gmt":"2014-10-01T03:12:06","slug":"such-singing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/?p=483","title":{"rendered":"Such singing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It was spring
and finally I heard him
among the first leaves–
then I saw him clutching the limb<\/p>\n

in an island of shade
with his red feathers
all trim and neat for the new year.
First, I stood still<\/p>\n

and thought of nothing.
Then I began to listen.
Then I was filled with gladness–
and that’s when it happened,<\/p>\n

when I seemed to float,
to be, myself, a wing or a tree–
and I began to understand
what the bird was saying,<\/p>\n

and the sands in the glass
stopped
for a pure white moment
while gravity sprinkled upward<\/p>\n

like rain, rising,
and in fact
it became difficult to tell just what it was that was singing–
it was the bird for sure, but it seemed<\/p>\n

not a single bird, but himself, and all his brothers,
and also the trees around them,
as well as the gliding, long-tailed clouds
in the perfectly blue sky – all, all of them<\/p>\n

were singing.
And, of course, yes, so it seemed,
so was I.
Such soft and solemn and perfect music doesn’t last<\/p>\n

for more than a few moments.
It’s one of those magical places wise people
like to talk about.
One of the things they say about it, that is true,<\/p>\n

is that, once you’ve been there,
you’re there forever.
Listen, everyone has a chance.
Is it spring, is it morning?<\/p>\n

Are there trees near you,
and does your own soul need comforting?
Quick, then–open the door and fly on your heavy feet; the song
may already be drifting away.
<\/em>
“Such Singing in the Wild Branches” by Mary Oliver<\/p>\n

Just a gentle reminder that Spring is passing, birds are migrating, wildflowers are blooming… get out and find it before it’s done! <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was springand finally I heard himamong the first leaves–then I saw him clutching the limb in an island of shadewith his red feathersall trim and neat for the new year.First, I stood still and thought of nothing.Then I began to listen.Then I was filled with gladness–and that’s when it happened, when I seemed to … Continue reading Such singing<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,3,2,25],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}