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Bird of Paradise

By Jamie Gilroy

Tuesday, July 8th, 2008

Once upon a time there was a man who loved birds.  Over the years the man had many birds, one after the other.  He loved their beauty, and especially loved listening to their songs.  He would very lovingly care for each bird as best he could, provide a wonderful cage for them to live in, good food to eat, and sweet water to drink.  The man would love to come home after a day at work and talk to his beloved bird, and ask her to sing a lovely song for him.  And each bird he kept would sing so perfectly because she loved the man so much.  Yet each bird the man brought home eventually died, and not from old age.  He would come home one day and the bird would be simply dead in its cage.  The man was always very, very sad afterwards.  He would mourn the loss for a long time, sometimes for a year or more before he would find another beautiful bird to keep.  The last bird the man had was so beautiful and so special that he thought she was the best one yet.  She died faster than any of the others though, and after this happened his heart seemed permanently broken.  The birdcage stayed empty for a long time after that loss.
 
On this particular day the man was in a magnificent garden near his home that he loved to spend time in and experience life bursting all around him.  He would go there often to sit and dream of the perfect bird and the perfect life together.  He sat overlooking the ocean far below him, watching the dolphins play.  He was surrounded by the most beautiful plants of many different colors and deep pools of water with the most amazing fish in them.  The man loved coming here when his heart was filled with trouble, for by the time he left he always felt so much lighter.  He was sitting on a bench in the sun feeling at peace; feeling a sense of serendipity.  Suddenly a bird landed next to him on the bench and looked up at him.  He had never seen such beauty.  She was an iridescent black with the most unusual color under her wings - a vivid pink.  She began to sing to him and his eyes welled up with tears as he knew his ears had never heard such sweetness before.  His heart was singing now too.  He had almost forgotten what that sounded like.  The bird and the man sat together for a long time on that bench enveloped in the obvious love they had for one another.  Finally the man took a chance and asked the bird if she would come home with him and live together.  She said yes.
 
The man was happier than he had ever been before.  For this bird he would make all the best preparations, take the most care, and make sure she was protected and safe.  She would have everything she ever needed.  He bought the biggest cage he could find, and filled it with all the things she loved.  He would ensure this bird was happy and would never leave him.  And it worked for a while.  The bird would sing for the man in ways that would fill his heart with so much happiness and joy.  The man was never more content.  He would come home from work and talk to this incredible bird long into the night.  He could feel how much she loved him.  He had never felt love like this before.  He had only dreamed that love like this existed.  The man was at peace now, and cherished his life with this bird.  For quite some time it was good like this.
 
Then one day he came home and noticed the bird didn’t sing upon his arrival.  She seemed sad, and tired.  He tried to fix whatever was wrong, making all the necessary improvements to her cage, talking to her more, spending more time together, and working less.  But she seemed only to get worse as the days went by.  She seemed to be dying.  The man was frantic.  He knew there was not another bird like this out there.  He would ask her what was wrong and she would just gaze back at him with so much love.  He could feel her slipping away.  The man knew another heartbreak was coming.  He knew this one would kill him.  He didn’t know what to do.  He loved this bird like life itself…
 
So that morning before going to work he did something in all his years of keeping birds he had never done before.  He left the door to her cage open and his house open to the yard.  He never had the courage to do that with the other birds - he was always afraid to lose them, and that they would leave him for good.  As much as he loved each of them, he would never trust them to stay.  The door to the cage was always closed.  On this morning all that changed.  As he opened the door to the cage he looked upon the love of his life for the last time.  She was asleep.  She seemed so peaceful.  He whispered, “I love you and you are free now”.  Then he left.
 
Later that afternoon when he returned home he was afraid to look in the cage.  In his heart he knew it would be empty.  It was.  He felt an overwhelming sense of grief and sadness, but also a tiny sense of wonder and love there too.  He poured himself a glass of lemonade and went out to his patio to sit and hope the sadness would pass quickly this time.  Though somehow now he felt different inside.  This wasn’t the usual heartbreak he’d felt in the past.  First of all he knew she hadn’t died in her cage like the others - at least now she was free.  And because of his tremendous love for that bird this thought made him happy.  He knew he had loved her as best he could and that thought too made him relax.  He let himself go now.  He felt his life shifting in a big way.  He could see the open cage inside his house and he began to cry, and cry, and cry, letting all his sorrow slip away with his tears.  Then he fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.
 
As he dreamt, he heard the most beautiful song serenading him.  He slowly awoke and realized that she was there in front of him singing sweetly.  His beloved.  She looked so radiant and alive!  She flew upwards singing like never before flying all around his garden so happily.  Then she landed on his shoulder and whispered these words into his ear:

“I love you and you are free now…”    

J

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