A light snow last night, and now the earth falls open to a fresh page.
A high wind is breaking up the clouds. Children wait for the yellow bus in a huddle,
and under the feeder, some birds are busy writing short stories,
poems, and letters to their mothers. A crow is working on an editorial.
That chickadee is etching a list, and a robin walks back and forth
composing the opening to her autobiography. All so prolific this morning,
these expressive little creatures, and each with an alphabet of only two letters.
A far cry from me watching in silence behind a window wondering
what just frightened them into flight – a dog’s bark, a hawk overhead?
~Billy Collins, Ornithography
Cangjie is a legendary ancient Chinese figure said to have been the inventor of Chinese characters. It is said that he invented writing after observing the tracks of birds.
