THE CHURCH O’ THE PINES is a bit gray and frosty
TODAY THE CHURCH O’ THE PINES is a bit gray and frosty, and crusty and icy and sticky, all the residue of a winter ‘storm’ of sorts. And a bit quiet. But all week long, from dawn to dusk, church soloist Sparky the Cardinal has been regaling the congregation. Through an endless assortment of trills and warbles, arpeggios and cadenzas and lilting, lyrical arias, Sparky has affirmed his exalted position in the musical firmament. Churches are sometimes a bit amateurish in the musical arts (no offense anyone!) but Sparky, nearly single-handedly, provides an air of professionalism and artistry here at our humble chapel. Where crows caw and croak, and jays shout and nuthatches mutter, and woodpeckers break the sanctity of services with much laughter, and woodchucks and deer are just quiet, Sparky holds forth at the highest levels of musicianship.
And we are grateful! No one doubts, as they go about their hobnobbing and greetings and gossiping in Fellowship Hall, while listening to Sparky in the treetop choir loft, that we have among our ranks the finest soloist in all of churchdom.
Except, well… in a few more weeks our spring-summer members will return from their sojourns to the south. And there will resound, from the deep woods, the most ethereal of all music, the song of the incomparable wood thrush. To hear it is to know the sound of heaven itself, and the meaning of perfection. But this music lasts for only a few weeks, and the thrush remains mostly hidden in the shadows, unwilling to take a bow. While Sparky appears daily, winter, spring, summer and fall, in his bright scarlet robes, and provides music–starting at first light– for many months on end–starting his spring concerts as early as February and continuing throughout most of the year. And there is no doubt, despite the incandescent wood thrush and the refined renditions of the oriole, and the catbird, and the brown thrasher, and others, that Sparky–dependable and prolific–is our official Church Soloist. Unchallenged and deeply appreciated.
From the Church O’ The Pines, Sparky and I wish you Good Sabbath!
(Illustration of Sparky by me, from my book A Wild Path, essay ‘Sparky’ Close Call’).