CxD#244: Marriage philosophy + birds 🐦
1.
Hello, I'm Johnny Cash
Well, the pigeons ate the wedding rice
And exploded somewhere over San Antonio
I picked up the newlyweds and asked them
Where they wanted to go
They said "We don't care, we don't know, anywhere, just go"
Ever since I'd gotten married
I started working weddings
Driving this long white limo
They'd had their ceremony in Bracketville
At that phony Alamo
We were 30 miles from the border of Mexico
Well, they're in the back laughing about some uncle named Jack
Who got too drunk, and during his speech
The tears started to flow
Well, they seemed like a match
So I stopped looking for cracks in their road, and just drove
Outside of Concan, the groom noticed the gold band on my left hand
And said "You got any advice for us, old man?"
Well, I thought for a mile, as I drove with a smile
Then I said when you are dating, you only see each other
And the rest of us can go to hell
But when you are married, you're married to the whole wide world
The rich, the poor
The sick and the well
The straights, and the gays
And the people who say we don't use these terms these days
The salt and the soil
After I'd said my piece
We drove on in silence for a spell
How my words had gone over, I couldn't tell
Potent advice or preachy as hell
But when I see people about to marry
I become something of a plenipotentiary
I just think it's good as you probably can tell
Went to two atoms from the Big Bang
Get back together with the old gang
I dropped them at a fancy dancy boutique hotel
And I drive off alone, but I'm not alone
Sincerely, L Cohen
If you’d like to see a live version of this song, click here:
2.
This poem was written by my friend Philip Leigh on the occasion of my wedding. The genius of Philip’s poem resides not only in its verse but also in the fact that he did not know that my soon-to-be bride is a complete and total bird-brain. 🦜🦉🐦
Birds in Pairs
The black hooded oriole
flies in pairs. A brilliant
flash of yellow an omen
of another following shortly
thereafter.
When they leave, they leave
like this: one
ups and flies as if suddenly
sure of something. The other
waits and only follows
when it is good
and ready.
The Red-Backed Flameback wedges
its claws into the smallest cracks
and ravines of walls and the bark
of mango trees in order
to hold itself upright.
It turns its head and cranes
its neck when it needs a more
advantageous angle to see
what it is looking for
in there.
Sometimes called the Lesser Flameback, it,
too, travels in pairs.
A pair of common tailorbirds, each
no bigger than a small
child's shoe, stays close
to the ground.
The tail feathers of the male
and the female are held
at different angles as
they hop from shrub
to grass to raised garden
bed.
Red wattled lapwings
don't hide their nests. They
make a ring of rocks on
the ground for their eggs
and stand their ground
together.
Two red-vented bulbuls delight
in a meal of hot
chili peppers in the blistering
sun. The spice, it seems, doesn't
deter them.
And white browed bulbuls
sing a sweet and loud
staccato warble. They both
know the same song.
Two golden fronted leaf birds
in the canopy fit
right in there among
the leaves.
White breasted water hens walk
like they are old
together. Sharing the same spaces
and plan in general
while maybe also, truth be
told, pursuing some
selfish eccentricities in
mazy error.
Birds in pairs.
Those two orioles from earlier
come back later
and this time they
are building
a sturdy nest
from delicate items
And children and grown
ups line up to better see the subtle
punctuation mark at the end
of the closest
frangipani branch
craning their necks
to see better the making
of a cup shaped
home
And they marvel at the marvel
of two making a home
out of what they have
found around them.
This photo was taken by my bride’s birdbuddy. Each time a bird lands on the bird feeder, it alerts her phone, takes pictures and records a video, identifies the bird, and presents all the facts and bird calls and songs. Anytime I hear squeals of delight from the kitchen, I know we’ve just had a new visitor.
For any other married or solitary bird lovers out there, here’s the link to this magnificent device. I think typing in “EASTER” gives you a 10% discount and free shipping.
4.
One of the most misleading representational techniques in our language is the use of the word “I.” ~ Ludwig Wittgenstein