The Laughter of Adam and Eve

Resignation Bird

33 Resignation Bird Not quite dawn but already three notes descending to middle C, mi re doh doh doh, a three times bounce of the last, the birdsong I hear as I’ll make do do do, whatever the bird sings— the resignation bird, whichever the bird. Some resolve, though, in the words. You could hear that in their sound. I’ve felt the way a whistling can drill directly for the spirit, the high liquids of a canary, but this is fluted, breathy, breathed across the opening of the garden. I believed it was nearly gone, my desire that every song have words, the impulse to supply them, to tell what’s sung, say while singing, but there is still this vestige again now that day has come come come. ...