July 2004
Sitting here, in the front yard watching
something quite amazing…it’s dusk, the sky, a particular blue, purple, grey
as the light fades into evening, the sun already set.
A patch of non-descript sky circled by the outline of the tall hardwood
trees surrounding the house, their leaves a dark, barely perceptible green.
The time of evening when the fireflies come
out and blink in the shadows…crickets and bugs of all types chirping, singing.
Distant sounds of traffic, dogs, even what sounds like owls, beginning
their evening hooting…or perhaps it is the refrigerator in the garage,
complaining mildly about it’s banishment from the house.
Above me is a swarm of swallows, chirping
their high-pitched calls, circling in the opening among the trees, there must be
50 of them, diving and swooping, hopefully consuming every flying insect in the
air. I’ve never noticed so many
of them. They look like an inverted
school of minnows circling in a bait bucket. I believe every one of them must
live in the chimneys of this house. Their
dance in the air is something to watch, so many, darting and swooping, never
colliding. Sometimes in large
groups, sometimes scattered in smaller groups, circling in an erratic ballet in
every direction…as if controlled by some invisible tether.
Boats on the lake break the peaceful solitude
of the natural world…as quickly as they intrude on the silence they disappear.
So do the swallows, in a span of 15 minutes, but for a few stragglers,
they are all gone, having done their work, they retire to their place in the
chimney.
Copyright 2004 by Tom Stites