Heartsong 2020,” Serena M. Pittman

Heartsong 2020

Serena M. Pittman

Orion is the sole companion for insomniacs in winter; there are no little chatty night critters to keep us entertained like in the warmer months. Yearlong residents mostly tuck themselves in til spring.

Mostly.

This past February at around four o’clock in the morning, somebody began to sing outside my icy bedroom window. “I do believe,” I thought to myself, “that bird must be talking in his sleep.”

Then I recognized my fellow wide-eyed was a cardinal practicing his love song.

In these dark times how can I give in to despair

When from the heart of an optimistic bird, hope as a sacred prayer poured out of his throat and unto the land of Saginaw and has the power all these months later to lift my spirits up?