About Birds

I have been feeling very inspired in recent times, maybe I am just losing my mind, but the truth is: it feels good, I feel awake (imagine myself on drugs, lol).

 

I live in the city center for many years now, besides a super busy street. Noise is the usual here: non-stop rumble of cars, vans, and trucks with their annoying horns and sirens, workers drilling in construction sites, many vociferous people, extremely noisy seagulls, even the sound of one particular traffic light (yes, a light making sound).

 

One day I woke up by chance in the middle of the night, and I realized something. There was silence. I did not hear a single thing from outside. While assimilating this fact, something unexpected happened: birds singing.

 

What a delicious surprise! Such a captivating and enchanting scene! It felt like no other witness was appreciating it; they were singing just to me. It felt special. From that moment on, I had a mission. I wanted to experience it again, to wake up at the right time to listen to the singing. I needed to share it too; thenceforth, I started to pay extra attention.

 

I had a purpose (or a new obsession, you choose the name).

 

I preferred not to force the situation by setting the alarm. I wish it to happen in the most genuine way possible. I craved the experience to be spontaneous, like if you go out for a night walk and bump into the northern lights, a wonder of nature. To be honest, the thought of catching the birds singing occupied some in my mind throughout the day.

 

And eventually, it happened. BOOM! The birds singing again.

 

The only problem: it was 1.30 pm in the afternoon. It occurred right after lunch, the street beaming with noise, light, and life.

 

I don't know why but it wasn't the same; it wasn't that magical anymore. I felt disappointed. I believe that somehow, in a certain way, the fortuitous arrangement of different elements (the empty streets during the pandemic, the silence, the night, etc.) made this serendipity, THIS FLUKE, take place.

 

Once more, unexpectedly, the birds were singing at 8.15 pm on the very same day. What the hell is going on? Are the birds going crazy in this town? Am I going crazy? And then I came to this realization:

 

The birds have always been there. It was me who wasn't listening.

 

 

Disclaimer: no birds were harmed in the making of this text.

Disclaimer 2: let's see if writing about the birds makes me forget about the obsession with the birds.

 

Brazilian Street/Graffiti artist Luis Seven Martin (alias L7m) creates stunning images of birds flying out of walls. Collège Jules Simon – Vannes