20 April 2012

There will be no R.S.V.P.

An open letter to the squirrels I am about to release this season:

Most of all, be safe.
Millions of years of evolution have prepared you for what you face now: the hawk or owl above, the fox below. The hurricanes that lie in wait. The droughts.

The exquisite balance in your bones will keep you poised, as it did your ancestors, with each leap you take to the tiniest wisp of a branch, and you will do it at unthinkable heights.

You are ready. This moment has been in the making since time and squirrels began. As for me, I have had only weeks, maybe months with you. When it comes to such partings, then, I am not quite so evolved. Forgive me.

Oh, it's not that you break my heart as you soar free today. My heart would have been shattered had you not made it to this point. But I will miss you.
So, be safe. And if you encounter others from seasons past out there in the trees, you may not know it. But the footprints you see before you are theirs. Yes, this has happened before. It's just that names and stories no longer matter out here. Under this canopy, the orphaned infant, the brother and sister hammered by the storm, and the adult savaged by the cat are all the same.
All free.
Be as grateful for this moment as I myself had been, barely months earlier, for that moment you were carried through our door and into our care.
Be glad too you are going now.
But most of all, be safe.

8 comments:

Chet said...

The poetry of your prose is absolutely wonderful, with your touching all emotions possible and with underlying hope and love.
Your blog is first on my list of blog bookmarks to be read, and it will remain first.

squirrelmama said...

Thank you for those kind words. emotions run high in these moments.

Sid Soni said...

"Poetry of your prose", as Chet aptly remarks.

:)

squirrelmama said...

Thank you Sid. Squirrel releases are what it is all about - though we struggle with the goodbyes.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Sid for letting me know the co-ordinates to the Squirrel scribbling:)

It's in these words that I can live the true meaning of liberation. Bookmarking the blog! :)

Dog With Blog said...

Thanks Sid for letting me know the co-ordinates to the Squirrel scribbling:)

It's in these words that I can live the true meaning of liberation. Bookmarking the blog! :)

squirrelmama said...

Dog With Blog, I am delighted to have found your work, as well, and am pleased to count myself among the followers. You are a kindred spirit and I too have Sid to thank for this discovery. All the best, see you online!

Anonymous said...

That was so beautifully written as only a mama could.