take a deep breath

you’re walking outside. the air is perfect - a mixture of warmth with the tiniest of a breeze. the trees are all around you, but they’re not closing in. you’re on a path, well-worn by deer and forest animals. and then you stop. and close your eyes. and you don’t say a word. and you just listen.

swhhhhhh swhhhhhh

it’s the birds.

swhhhhhh swhhhhhh

you open your eyes, watching for them. they flutter between the trees, their wings like a blur. you hear a pecking sound - possibly a woodpecker? you walk under one of the trees, trying to make them out between the branches. there’s one - up at the time. its color looks dark from where you stand, and you can’t quite make it out. what kind is it? you don’t know. you just listen.

swhhhhhh swhhhhhh

you move out from the tree, your eyes towards the sky. you watch in the branches, trying to detect the shape and color of the birds as they go about on the branches. there! there’s one. you squint, trying to make out its features. it’s orangish. you rather wish you knew what kind it was, but you don’t. you watch it, moving its quick little head. then it flies off with a flutter, several more birds flying up from the tree and taking off. you turn and watch them, practically black against the blue sky.

you stare up, and take a deep breath. this is it.

spring’s here.