i held a dream

Dreams are sometimes fulfilled in unexpected ways. Opportunities to claim the dream or live it even briefly are offered, perhaps, more often than we realize. What is required is that we be aware in the moment, that we pay attention. In that awareness and attention opportunities come to light. Action can be taken, and if it is, we taste nothing less than the elixir of our truest selves.

This morning, I held a dream.

It began with me passing a splash of orange on the side of the road as I drove to work. The splash registered in my brain as my favorite bird of summer, the baltimore oriole. 2 clicks down the road my instincts kicked in and I made a U-turn. I decided to get the bird off the road, place it in my car and  bury it in my garden after work. With traffic barreling past me, I bent to scoop the feathers and found, to my great surprise, the oriole was still alive.

It was limp and breathing and offered no resistance. I held it with reverence. I began a soft litany of love and prayers on behalf of this wounded bearer of juice and sunshine feathers, this singer of dulcet and tender tones. Time ceased to exist. It mattered not if I was late for anything. All that mattered was the exquisiteness of the sudden dream fulfilled, the dream of seeing a favorite bird so close and honoring its great beauty.

I tore a leaf from the ground and set the bird in its protective palm. It was the best chance I could give the oriole to recover from its trauma and lift itself skyward again.

It did not recover.

I found it, many hours later, expired on its side with the leaf beginning to curl around it.  I tore another leaf and used it as a shroud. I placed the orange bird, now covered in green, under long grasses and said my good byes.

I said thank you, as well. For in that sudden, morning awareness, a  brief and mutual gift occurred.

A never-to-be-forgotten dream came to life.

A passing was made more gentle.

And I drank deeply the elixir of my truest self.