Below zero, as indigo wings flap madly,
honing in on empty feeders, and we arise
with the wonder that any warm blooded
creature can survive, urged now to provision
small bellies dependent on habits that must
be sustained, having begun this particular dance
when we arrived over two years now;
And I wonder how they spend the long nights,
hunkered down, puffed out, clustered together
on piñon branches safer near the trunk,
alternately sleeping and chattering, keeping warm
enough, knowing to their tiny bones that this sort
of cold won't last, merely waiting it out, patience
being beside the point to non-humans,
the natural world possessing its own rhythms,
sap drawing down into roots or rising,
as befits the season;
Casting eyes now into the clearing, withered grasses
replacing brilliantly arrayed wildflowers, prairie dogs
hunkered down in dens as red tail hawks cruise
and soar overhead, aircraft on reconnaissance,
spotting nothing of note on this day but the haze
from wood fires, wafting and settling into the valley;
This is deep winter on Turtle Island, the bluest air
of the high desert mountains of northern New Mexico
spreading wide and wider, opening apertures
to one's thoughts dovetailed always to landscape,
breathing into yet never outward too far from here,
wherever that is, but close, close enough now to feel
the pulse emanating from this frozen crystalline
rock-strewn interstice amidst piñon and Ponderosa
forests blanketing soil which would not exist
if not for the tenacity of conifers.
wild turkeys in a snowy field ~ bj 2022
Wonderful way you have to report that IT IS, LIKE COLD!
Wishing you and your husband well and stay warm by “puffing-up”!
Oh, yes. Bloody cold, what with the wind! Whips the energy right out of me.
Thanks for the ‘warm wishes,’ – I would indeed say we stay warm by puffing up, in that we sleep under a down puff! 😀
Happy holidays to you and yours, tube! 💓
So kind of you to think about those who have to spend the winter outdoors. I too wonder how do they survive!!
Aww, thanks, Balroop! It is why we have always lived in nature. It’s impossible Not to think of her creatures in any season! 🥶💕
It is a wonder how these little balls of fluff survive some of these long frigid nights. Always a joy to see them chowing down at the feeders in the morning!
Deep winter brings many insights and appreciation of nature and how she moves through this time. Our feeders are humming right now, with an other arctic blast about to come through. Settle in and snuggle up Bela 💕
Yes, Val! Our feeders are great magnets for flocks of blue jays (Stellar and Piñon), blackbirds, magpies, and all the little ones (juncos, wrens) who are brave enough to winter here. I have to keep reminding myself that, ‘this, too, shall pass!’ Blessings, my friend. 💕