Dove
Posted: June 18, 2009 | Author: Elisabeth Crisp | Filed under: Housekeeping, Joined at the Heart, Mouths of Babes, Writers Write | Tags: family, flying lessons, garden, loss, memory, Mourning Dove, perception, writers, writing |3 Comments »I can’t get the image out of my head. A week ago, a mourning dove flew into our closed window. It was a bright day. The tinted glass captured a mirror image of our backyard in vivid detail. The bird smacked into it, crumpling into a pile of feathers and sinew. The death disturbed my girls, particularly Coco. She is tenderhearted toward all forms of wildlife.
Cherry explained, “It was just a dove and they don’t have very big brains. He must have thought he was flying into another part of the yard. Bird Brain.”
I shoveled the dove into a Walgreens bag and tossed it into the dumpster behind the house.
When I came back to the patio, I saw it. The bird in flight left a smudge. The detail of wings and feathers and beak, and the body language of distress, then death, looked like a photograph on the glass. I couldn’t look away. The image was interesting and disturbing.
I wanted to protect my family from the memory. So, I grabbed a bottle of glass cleaner and spritzed the image. Although, I wiped it down with a clean cloth, I haven’t been able to get that dove’s imprint out of my head.
Interesting, I wonder why it made such am impact on you. I once saw a bird print on a window and, as insensitive as it was, I laughed my brains out. I know…kinda mean but I didn’t see it happen, just the perfect print after wards.
I think I reacted that way because I saw the bird crash, and then, I saw my child’s reaction to it. At another time in my life, I might have felt differently. Parenthood changed me.
[...] | Leave a comment » I was working at my dining room table when another bird hit the window. I had a similar experience a while ago. This time, the bird was red, a cardinal. I have a special relationship with red birds. When my [...]