Love Me Birds

"All was silent in the wood. Suddenly, out of the green, 'Love-me! Love-me! Love-me!' called the Love-Me Bird. There was no answer to her call."

From the Love-Me Bird by Joyce Dunbar.

This story of the Love-Me Bird by Joyce Dunbar was one of my favourite bedtime stories to read to my daughter. Desperate to be loved, the Love-Me bird flies around the forest singing the same old song 'Love-Me!' She fluffs and preens her feathers, acts helpless, plays hard to get and acts cool. She even builds a fantastic love nest but still no-one answers her call. Finally Shut-Eye the owl suggests she sing a different tune, 'Love-yoo-ooo!'

'But I'm a Love-Me bird not a Love-You bird' complains the Love-Me bird. 'Perhaps you can be both at once,' suggests Shut-Eye.

Television is full of examples of Love-Me Birds all desperate for love, fame, to be understood and accepted. Think Big Brother, think Apprentice.Like the Love-Me Bird they all fluff their feathers in different ways: Look at my body! Look at how cool or good looking I am! Look at how misunderstood I am! They jostle each other for the best position in the nest, damaging each other's feathers in the process and all the time singing the same old song at the tops of their voices, unable to truly hear anybody elses song. The morning talk shows are full of 'misunderstood' people desperately shouting out to let us know how badly they've been treated. These shows do contain extreme characters but I would suggest that their behaviour does mirror, in some ways society at large. We are all part of this "it's all about me generation". Obsessed with having the perfect body and looks and will undertake extreme surgery to achieve it. wanting the best house, more money, most successful career and will work all hours to achieve it. Yet despite all this attention grabbing behaviour there still exists a lot of unhappiness, loneliness and dissatisfaction.

Two of the greatest commandments in the Bible are about giving out love, not receiving it. We are told to love God with all our hearts and to love our neighbours as ourselves(being able to love yourself-hmmmm, that's a whole other topic, not as easy as it sounds for some). For that reason one of the programmes I like to watch is 'The Secret Millionaire' for the sole reason that it tells you about people who are selflessly giving their lives to help others, often people who have been shunned or forgotten by society at large and often for no monetary gain but purely out of love for others.

If we could all follow Shut-eye the owls advice and sing a different tune, the 'Love-You' tune, might our world not be a much better and happier place?

Wild Primrose

Spring Haiku

Acacia tree buds
Primrose wreathed its woody trunk
Hope glowing in shade

On searching for inspiration for my blog title I walked into the garden, my place of retreat, and my eyes alighted on the dense carpet of Primula Vulgaris ringing the Acacia tree. I love the pale lemon coloured flowers set on slender pink stems against the dark green cabbage-like leaves. I love the heart shaped petals and lovely scent. I love that they are a woodland flower and grow wild and will thrive even in dappled shady spots. They coincide with the arrival of the daffodils and are a real signal to the start of spring, longer days, warmer weather and are a cheery sight for the heart.

They have long been associated with faeries and it is said that eating a primrose can open your eyes to the invisible.

(Photo credit: Woodland Trust Picture Library).

The Start of The Journey

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice--
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do--
determined to save
the only life you could save.

by Mary Oliver

I first came across this poem about a year and a half ago. My mum had given me a book of poems from a second hand book sale. This was the first poem in a collection of poems by Roger Housden entitled 'Ten Poems to Change Your Life'. I remember not being able to move off that first page and reading that poem again and again. It was like there was a voice in the room speaking to me, taking me by the shoulders and shaking me, willing me to move on from I was in my life ,which was stuck, frozen, not knowing which way to turn next. I have since read more about Roger and his wife and their life story and found it so inspiring, but more about that another time. I have started on my journey since that first reading, reluctantly and with trepidation. Change is scary. It can be difficult as the poem suggests and there can be many times when you want to revert to what is comfortable and safe and familiar.

I know now that only I can be reponsible for my own happiness and I can not sit around waiting for the changes to happen to me, I have to take control and reponsibility. My journey is beginning, it is not going to be easy but it is exciting. Starting this blog is part of that journey, an acknowledgement of how I must change and what I need to do to live my life openly and honestly. I like to write but have so far lacked the discipline and confidence to take it seriously. This is my first step in attempting to deal with that attitude. I hope to be able to share the reading,writing and poetry that I like and admire as well as posting my own creative offerings and musings on my life and life in general. Looking forward to the journey.

"The purpose of a book is to serve as an axe for the frozen sea within us." - Annie Dillard