In the quiet sunshine, the singing thorn bird

"The Thorn Bird That Sings in the Heart" | text: Ren Wu trace

"In the quiet sunshine, the leaves of the sycamores in autumn do not sing"

/01/

In the quiet afternoon, standing in front of the window sprinkled with sunshine, my thoughts wandered with the light white clouds in the blue sky. In my heart, there was a thorny bird struggling on the spikes, and the dripping blood bloomed into a red rose...

First, let's go, live well!

It had been two minutes since I had dragged the classroom, and I grabbed the textbook on the podium and hurried out of the classroom.

"Wow! hush! I was about to walk around the corner of the stairs when I heard a cacophony in the hallway. I slowed down and saw two boys waving their arms and chasing a bird against the glass curtain wall. The bird flared its wings vigorously, crashing against the glass curtain wall like a small boat fighting hard in the rapids. But no matter how hard you try, it can only be in vain, hitting the glass and banging, and the feathers flying wildly.

I rushed up with an arrow, perhaps frightened, perhaps tired, and I effortlessly grabbed the bird in the palm of my hand, soft, warm, brown feathers emerging from the cracks of my fingers. The bird's feet kept fluttering, and its sharp claws made a white mark on my wrist. We looked at each other for a few seconds, and the look of prayer and helplessness pierced my heart like a sword, and a wave of pity instantly crossed my whole body like an electric current.

Birds, how can I hurt you, I'm worried about you! I walked to the end of the aisle, raised my arm and gently released my fingers, and the bird flew out of the palm of my hand. Circling around the willow tree nearby, I wanted to land on the branches, but in an instant I flapped my wings again and flew to the other side of the mountain, all the way out of my sight.

The bird could no longer see the shadow, but its eyes, like a clear spring, were always fixed in my mind. This kind of look seems to have been in the heart for a long time. At this moment, I remembered my deceased mother-in-law, who had looked at me with such eyes.

When the simple and industrious mother-in-law left her one by one and went to live in the bustling city, she unfortunately fell seriously ill and came to my house with her pain to recuperate while treating her illness. His wife boiled medicine for her every day and took her to the hospital for cupping and acupuncture, but the ruthless disease still raged on the old man.

/02/

It was a fierce wind, the leaves and pieces of paper were swirling wearily, and the rainstorm seemed to pour down from the sky. My wife and I hurried home, pushed open the half-hidden door, there was no old man on the bed, and we searched all the way upstairs and downstairs. Heavy rain blew in through the windows, and dark green curtains danced with the wind. I hurriedly closed the window, and in the instant of casually closing the curtains, I saw the old man standing on the opposite side of the road with difficulty, the umbrella was destroyed by the wind and rain, and the old man's feet seemed to be about to be pulled up from the ground, and the whole person swayed in the wind and rain. My wife and I rushed out of the house like a lost soul, the rain had gathered on the road into a river, and I stood in front of the old man in pain, and kept saying, Mom! Freak it out! The old man looked at me silently, his face full of horror and exhaustion, and that look was like a sharp knife that had drawn a permanent mark on my heart, and many years later it was still revealing the bright red outward new flesh. The old man was afraid that we would be angry, and apologetically said that he went to the hospital for acupuncture and came back to take the wrong bus.

I held up the umbrella, my wife supported me, and the old man took a hard breath and said, "Let's go, live well!" ”

Years have passed, things are not human, and the old man has left us. Waking up in the middle of the night, in the dim afterglow, my thoughts were infinitely stretched and magnified. The little birds that flew far away, the old man who trembled in the wind, they slowly slid into the door of my heart like the wind. At this point, I muttered to myself: Let's go, live well!

Second, go to another world and fly!

When I was a child, I looked at the birds flying freely in the sky and imagined that I could fly in the blue sky like them.

In the mountain village surrounded by peaks, in addition to mud and stones, birds and insects are the best companions. Holding a leather slingshot made of trees and tire skins, the pockets of the rattling cloth clothes were filled with small stones picked up in the river beach, and he chased birds all day long to the end of the village. Birds are very difficult to fight, after all, there are no birds agile, but they are often scolded.

The small stones that did not have long eyes did not follow the birds, but were hit by evil hits on the glass of the window, or fell on the roof tiles and rolled slowly down the tile ridge. The crisp sound is like a beautiful "piano song", which makes you panic and lie under the wood stack and dare not make a sound. When the ugly insults disappeared into the alley, they dared to sneak out. Looking up at the dense branches again, the birds were once again excited among the branches.

After all, there are many birds in the countryside, and it is very easy to catch one or two small birds. The summer vacation was long and crazy, and a few friends of the neighbors sneaked out of the house during the adults' lunch breaks and rushed into the river like cheerful ducks. The sound of water and the sound of joy are softly combined, and a classic nursery rhyme is played. As I rushed up the beach from the river, a bird stood in the sand and looked at me silly.

I pounced on it and held the bird in my chest. "I caught a bird!" As soon as he screamed, several naked friends jumped out of the river. "How red is that mouth?" "Show me!" "It's a water bird!" "Maybe Xuefei fell from a tree?" Everyone surrounded me breathlessly, and five or six hands caressed the bird's body. It was a kingfisher-like bird, with blue and black feathers, a long pink beak, a proud head forever raised, and a determined and distinct gaze. The partners all liked the bird, and looking at their envious eyes, they had to discuss that everyone should take care of this cute guy together.

After playing and going home, we wrapped our cousin who could do bamboo work to make a bird cage, and as soon as we finished school, we gathered around the bird cage to watch the birds together. When they had seen enough, they rushed to the river to catch fish and feed it, and the birds were so lonely and lively for a few days. On Saturdays, we went up the mountain to chop firewood and take it with us, caressing it like a baby, catching insects for it to eat, and feeding it water the next.

After the firewood was cut, he did not rush home, but put it in the creek to bathe. Because I don't know who said it, the water bird should always let it live in the water. By the time we had played, the bird was dying, its proud head hanging low, its eyes looking at us in despair. The moment it stopped breathing, we all cried. Because of our ignorance, because of our indulgence, let this elf leave this world in resentment.

My cousin said, make it a grave! We chose a sunny slope, cut a pit with a wood knife, and buried this bird that brought me joy and sorrow. Everyone found a stone piece and carved it with a blade: Birds, go to another world and fly!

Although it has been many years since I left my hometown, the mountain is still green in my heart, the water is still flowing in my heart, and the frolicking of my childhood is still flashing from time to time. Maybe the bird's grave was already covered with grass and bushes, but I heard it singing passionately in another world!

Third, the birds will return to the forest!

I have a relationship with birds, but I never thought about raising birds. Raising birds is to be leisurely, that is a matter of mutual pleasure.

But I raised a bird once, and I had a thrush. I think of some thin and cool attachment, and some warm sadness.

At one of the wine tables, I was drinking with my business partner and talking. From China's Qin Shi Huang to Clinton in the United States, from the green tea in his hometown to today's adoptive children... The stream of consciousness overflows unbridled under the influence of alcohol, and somehow comes to Zheng Xie's "The Way of Raising Birds": "The clouds must not raise birds in cages, and Yu does not love birds, but raising birds has a way of ear..."

Lian Xiang listened to me talk about raising birds, and with a moment of great spirituality, he smiled and said, "You want to raise birds?" My friend is having a bird and doesn't want to keep it! When will it be brought to you? "I thought it was a joke in the wine, but I didn't care at the time, but on the third day, Lian Xi really carried the birdcage into the house." In the panic, it was not easy to shirk, asked what to eat, what is exquisite. Lian Xi grinned widely, "Good nourishment! Sell some chicken feed to feed, the water can not be broken. After a long time, when you are familiar with it, you will call. ”

The birdcage was covered with a green cloth, and I couldn't wait to lift a corner, and a thrush looked at me in horror and kept jumping up and down. I quickly covered the cloth, and it was calmer. Carrying the birdcage up to the balcony on the third floor, he hung it on one end of a bamboo pole for drying clothes. I lifted the green cloth, and the thrush kept flying up and down in the narrow cage, hitting the bird feathers and falling off. I was a little distressed and a little helpless, holding such an elf in a cage, and a sense of guilt slowly grew in my heart.

I wanted to fly on it, but I thought about it: after living in a cage for so long, can I adapt to it when I put it outside? I hesitated, so I kept adding water to feed. Within a few days, we became acquainted, and when I was in the study, I often heard its crisp and pleasant cry. The heavy heart slowly rejoiced, and it saw that I was no longer as reserved and afraid as before. In the future, I will always love it, and if I don't hear it one day, I will worry and worry. One day when you hear it bark a few more times, you will say to your family, you listen, it barks. It's so good!

The busyness of life diluted the leisure of raising birds, so he asked his retired father to take thrush back to the countryside to raise. Knowing that my father is not a person who loves flowers and birds, just alleviates my worries and makes thrush have a good place to go. Every time my father came to me, he first asked: Is that bird easy to keep? Is it called or not? The father said unhappily, "Call! Later, ask your father. The father said quietly: "Forgot to bring it into the house at night, and was eaten by the neighbor's cat?" "I have always been very dissatisfied with my father's answer, how could I be eaten by a cat?" Didn't make a sound at the time? This doubt was not solved until I came home in the New Year, and my mother smiled and said, "That bird was released by your father!" I was anxious: "After raising it for so many days, how can I be willing to let it go?" Your father said, the bird is old. The fallen leaves return to the roots, and when the bird is old, let it return to the forest! Listening to this, I couldn't help but burst into tears...

At this time, I thought of Zheng Xie's "The Way to Raise Birds". Birds should not be kept in cages, the hometown is beautiful, the trees are lush, how is it not a paradise for birds? Every morning, when you wake up from your sleep and are still rummaging around in the futon, you can hear a bird chirping. When you lift your teacup and smell the fragrance, you can see the birds flying around in the branches, and enjoy the fun that is not a cage of birds.

Why is the joy of life? Heaven and earth are gardens, and rivers are pools, each living freely according to their own nature and enjoying the greatest happiness. How generous and benevolent this is compared to those who use caged birds!

Fourth, hurting others is also hurting yourself!

In the early hours of the morning, I was awakened by a crisp bird call. How can there be a natural sound in this noisy city? Very surprised! So I opened the curtains and looked at the sound of birds. It turned out to be a thrush, standing alone on the scaffolding of the nearly completed building opposite.

oh! I remember! It turns out that this is a few rolling hills with lush pine trees and green bamboo like the sea, which is a wonderful habitat for birds. Later, developers bulldozed the place to start the hottest real estate business in the small county. So schools, government affairs new districts and other buildings set aside here! I also bought a piece of land here to build a house.

Having just come here to see this bird, every morning and evening I would stop on the telephone pole and chirp, the call was sometimes crisp, sometimes thick, sometimes cheerful, sometimes miserable, and this haunting cry made people's hearts tremble. I had looked closely, red feathers and yellow mouths, white eyebrows upturned, eyes large and clear and bright. Looking at the lonely thrush I thought: Maybe this was her home. The house was built, and I saw this bird many times in my work and life, still standing on a telephone pole and chirping. Sometimes when I don't see it, there is a kind of attachment and a trace of sadness born at the tip of my heart, and I am very lost.

Five years on, it has become a bustling downtown. The familiar thrush stopped here again. What still bothers her so much? thing? feeling? I was confused, I was a little uneasy, I couldn't get close to her heart! Listening to the birds and facing the tall buildings, article after article suddenly jumped into my mind: there is a 300 square mile of idle land in the western part of the British capital.

In order to alleviate the pressure on urban housing, the local government plans to build 20,000 houses here. But shortly before the start of construction, the municipal government suddenly announced that all housing plans were canceled, and their answer was: before the development, they found that this area was distributed with a large number of heather trees and other plants, forest white finches and nightingales and other birds nested here.

In order not to destroy the living environment of the birds, make way for the birds. Coincidentally, New Zealand miners have found a rare snail in a coal mine. They immediately stopped working, and in order not to disturb the snails, Sorid bypassed the snails' habitat and chose to dig in the other direction, delaying the construction period by 19 months and increasing the cost by $8.97 million. Also, the City of Seoul, South Korea, demolished two apartment buildings in the city just for a ginkgo tree that has been growing here for 840 years...

"Tweet..." The thrush call pulled back my thoughts. Standing by the window, I lamented that this thrush bird was lucky not to have heather, snails, and ginkgo biloba. She should have screamed on the green branches, and she could only stand on the scaffolding of the tall building very uncoordinated, perhaps missing her relatives, perhaps missing her homeland, or resenting us...

Yes, we have never raised a flock of birds, a few tiny snails and an old tree to the heights of life to compare and respect them with humans. We like to wantonly offend "others" and hurt the lives of "others." In this ignorant offense and hurt, we ourselves will be scarred!

"The saints have no dreams," but I dream in the daytime, dreaming of the birds. In the quiet sunlight, the autumn sycamore leaves did not sing, only sighed softly and flew down there. The thorn bird flew into my heart, sang the soul-destroying song, and flew away again.

Image source network, invasion and deletion

author

Pen name: Ren Wu trace, use writing, paper cutting, drawing, writing brush words to add some color to the engineering life, make yourself more fulfilling.

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