Blackbird Song

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

    by Wallace Stevens (excerpt)

Section VII

"O thin men of Haddam,
Why do you imagine golden birds?
Do you not see how the blackbird
Walks around the feet
Of the women about you?"

  The things in life that give us the greatest pleasure are often right in front of us.  If we recognize that fact, and respond to local beauty, there is no need to "imagine golden birds" or other mythology. Watch, Look and Listen for Love. 
Love feeds us both physically and spiritually. 
   Listen to the song of the blackbird above. When I hear it, I am no longer a thin man of Haddam. I feel like I have heard a beautiful song. Perhaps it is also serenading the women around us. At that moment, the man, the woman and the blackbird are one.

"Three Men Walking" - Alberto Giacometti