03-27-2022, 09:44 PM
Back Again
Merlin, our fearless hunter cat
has been gone for over five years now.
Ever since, cardinals have come around
in early March: the olive-brown female,
with her orange beak, and black mask,
hoo-eet, eet, eeting when the clematis begins
to wind its way up the arbor outside
our kitchen window. She calls, and calls
until the flashy male flies in to greet her.
His sharp red beak framed in black,
and a pointy crest of scarlet. They touch
beaks, and she darts off around the side
of the house for the thick cover of bushes
near the crepe myrtle. He quickly follows
with a few twigs. She has chosen their spot
for the nest, so I leave them be, knowing
that I will hear her song every day. I smile
to myself, so glad to see them back again:
I’ve named her Chloe, and him, Merlin.
Merlin, our fearless hunter cat
has been gone for over five years now.
Ever since, cardinals have come around
in early March: the olive-brown female,
with her orange beak, and black mask,
hoo-eet, eet, eeting when the clematis begins
to wind its way up the arbor outside
our kitchen window. She calls, and calls
until the flashy male flies in to greet her.
His sharp red beak framed in black,
and a pointy crest of scarlet. They touch
beaks, and she darts off around the side
of the house for the thick cover of bushes
near the crepe myrtle. He quickly follows
with a few twigs. She has chosen their spot
for the nest, so I leave them be, knowing
that I will hear her song every day. I smile
to myself, so glad to see them back again:
I’ve named her Chloe, and him, Merlin.