by Lind List

I’m lying in bed only slightly aware of the early hour. The cool breeze of Spring, drifting in the window becomes my gentle alarm clock.
My mind slowly begins to tackle the events of the upcoming day, but in the quietness, I hear a call.  The first bird of the morning is singing.
I wonder how these feathered creatures decide who will be the first to begin the chirping, the one to break the silence of the night, the one to begin a soft wake up call to the outside world.  Is it a robin, a sparrow, a Carolina wren?
I continue to breathe quietly and listen to the cacophony slowly warm up. One bird answers another’s call. They exchange chirps, and then I hear some new notes, maybe the cardinal, floating through the air.
A few more birds sing the wake up song. The twittering becomes a morning symphony.
Is it a performance for my ears alone, a performance meant to bring me to the edge of daylight?
But suddenly nature’s peaceful world is broken as I hear a robin chirp the danger call, chirp chirp, chirp, chirp.
A neighbor cat is probably searching the garden, hoping to surprise a lazy mouse.
The birdsong becomes more varied, more fretful now.  I know it’s time to leave the sleepy world of dawn, time to face my own peace, my own dangers.
But I know tomorrow the concert will return, I know my dreams will again be broken by this gentle serenade.