At this time of year in 2014, as I walked to my car on a cold, winter day I heard high in the branches of the black walnut tree a cardinal singing. Tired of winter, it was a sound of hope. A cardinal singing in the branches, pitchers and catchers reporting to Fort Meyers, are signs of hope we, who dislike winter so very much, cling to at this time of year.
As I reflected on how much the song of this little bird gave me life that day, my mind was drawn to the one person in whom I always find hope, warmth, and joy … my beloved, Ruthie. Here is the poem I compose about her back then.
INTERLUDE: Ruth 2
The long, barren winter
silent but for the wind,
drifting snow across frozen
roads, fields, and hearts.
Winter sounds as barren
as the landscape,
the creak of walked upon snow,
the slip and the thud
of bodies on icy pavements,
the restorative slaps to body parts
iced in the bitter cold.
In the midst of this frozen despair,
a lone, beautiful sound floats
from bare branches above.
The Cardinal sings like Caruso,
a song of Spring yet to come,
warmth, and sprouting seeds,
yes, and even mosquitoes,
a harbinger of anticipatory miracles,
all this in that floating February aria.
As I long for the Cardinal’s song,
so I yearn to hear your voice, my bride.
At the sound of your voice,
my heart leaps and springs,
as surely as did our children
in your womb.
Your voice is life,
it sustains me in life’s wintery moments,
a harbinger of joy, of hope
of always something better,
something beautifully eternal.
Of all the greatest music composed,
your voice is the most beautiful to the ear.
© 2014. Robert Charles Wagner. All rights reserved.
