The Cardinal's Trill

The wide, blue lid of the
world blazes with luminous
light and energy-sapping heat
over a languid landscape
barely cooled by an uncommitted
breeze ruffling the dark green
canopy of the forest below.

Shafts of brilliant sun illuminate
Nature's creative design in the
embroidered wings of a Swallowtail,
the exquisitely delicate body
of a damselfly, glinting watery
gold on the ripples of a stream
gliding casually within the ravine.

The air is still redolent with the
fragrance of honeysuckle past their
prime. Now canes of blackberry are
sumptuous with blossoms and the
showy pink flowers of thimbleberries.
There is a promiscuous display of bright
buttercups in the meadow reflecting
the sun, among the orange hawkweed.

The divine trill of a cardinal bells
the landscape with its unparalleled
melody of sublime provenance which
the Red Priest Vivaldi must have
emulated for the stringed instruments
of his beloved orphans. The unrestrained
mocking taunt of a woodpecker responds.