Morning Dove

I went through a serious creative dry spell. Events over the recent months have reinspired me, I guess, enough to want to reach back out there and type again. Read more books and blogs. Move my legs.

Several months ago two small mourning doves made a nest in Mario's balcony rafter. He named the doves Homer. Both doves are Homer, really; they look so much alike we just call them both the same name. Gentle and quiet, our little coo-coo birds nested and gave birth to petite versions of themselves, two fledglings we called the Homies. The homies left the nest, and for a few days so did the Homers, and I was surprised at how sad I was that they were gone.

Observing their smooth, gray-brown bodies flying, sitting, and nesting was a pleasure for me. They became accustomed to Mario and I coming and going, sometimes noisy with happy banter but it never seemed to disturb them. We would leave them seeds, and watch from inside as one Homer would leave the nest to gather them up. I was even allowed to touch their tailfeathers, without so much as a flich. It was a lovely feeling that these free and wild creatures could choose to live anywhere, and chose to make home where Mario and I nest.

Several days later I saw Homer cooing on top of one of the apartment complex antenas. His deep, mournful cry sounded sad and I worried that something had happened to the Homer-mate or the Homies to make the bird so sad. Stray cats wander the neighborhood constantly but I had always hoped the doves were safe with us. But the next day I was surprised to see the beginnings of another nest, where the last Homies were born, and sure enough a smooth, gray bird was up there weaving twigs and thin leaves into a new home. I left some smallish nesting materials on the rafter, which I was thrilled to observe the doves using in their nest. More fledglings are on the way, and the Homers are again at home.

So the cycle of these doves has inspired me. Their quiet devotion, calm demeanor, tireless efforts, and almost unreal patience are admirable qualities and I've spent many hours meditating on them. Doves are a classic Biblical symbol of peace, and God's love. They pair-bond for life, the male and female remaning loyal to the other until death. They share the nesting responsibilities, the food-gathering, the raising and feeding of their young equally (this is why it was so hard at first to tell the birds apart, hence both having the same name). They are clean, quiet birds. Beyond all this, they are astonishly beautiful in their simple, marblesque brown-gray smoothness. I believe Mario and I have been blessed with the presence of our winged friends.

starting something new.