small deaths
Jan. 10th, 2010 10:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I was going to get my toolbox, when I found him fallen on the balcony. I blushed and swore and stammered so badly my son embraced me.
He lay there peacefully as if sleeping, unmarred, belly full of mice hearts, dreaming of moon gossip. His talons were clasped together and the down of his abdomen looked so soft it felt disrespectful to notice how it glowed and faded into the air like a flame. He weighed little more than a paper plane when I lifted him. I wrapped his body in a green pillow case, lowered him into a shoebox coffin and drew a heart on the box over where his would be.
Then at sunset we carried him to the forest, where off the trail my daughter and I gathered stones for his tiny tomb. We propped a spiky cedar stump atop the monument, a crown for the night king.
He lay there peacefully as if sleeping, unmarred, belly full of mice hearts, dreaming of moon gossip. His talons were clasped together and the down of his abdomen looked so soft it felt disrespectful to notice how it glowed and faded into the air like a flame. He weighed little more than a paper plane when I lifted him. I wrapped his body in a green pillow case, lowered him into a shoebox coffin and drew a heart on the box over where his would be.
Then at sunset we carried him to the forest, where off the trail my daughter and I gathered stones for his tiny tomb. We propped a spiky cedar stump atop the monument, a crown for the night king.
sign
Date: 2010-01-11 04:29 am (UTC)Re: sign
Date: 2010-01-11 04:33 am (UTC)you are magical
Date: 2010-01-11 04:38 am (UTC)http://www.beltbuckleshop.com/page/belt/PROD/4392p
Re: you are magical
Date: 2010-01-11 05:37 am (UTC)he has a nice shape for a symmetrical tattoo, as well.
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Date: 2010-01-11 06:20 am (UTC)I stared at both owl pictures for a long time when you posted them on flickr. He looks so peaceful.
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Date: 2010-01-11 01:31 pm (UTC)he does look like a daydreamer, and as though he had been very healthy when he lived. i'm thinking about painting him.
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Date: 2010-01-11 06:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-11 01:35 pm (UTC)he seemed too... distinguished.
<3
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Date: 2010-01-11 04:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-11 04:16 pm (UTC)ah, i'm tearing again.
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Date: 2010-01-11 04:52 pm (UTC)Okay, now I'm crying!
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Date: 2010-01-11 07:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-11 01:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-11 08:37 am (UTC)I liked reading this, as sad as it was. Small deaths are still big to the creatures they happen to, I bet. I'm glad this one got a good send-off.
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Date: 2010-01-11 01:38 pm (UTC)i'm comforted to know i have friends as weepy and sentimental as i!!
A day without flightviolation is like a day without symmetry
Date: 2010-01-11 10:50 am (UTC)Re: A day without flightviolation is like a day without symmetry
Date: 2010-01-11 01:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-11 02:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-11 03:27 pm (UTC)i don't think i could ever raise birds, but they are magical little things.
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Date: 2010-01-11 02:39 pm (UTC)my mother volunteers at a shelter for birds of prey, can I show her the shot?
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Date: 2010-01-11 03:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-11 03:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-11 03:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-11 03:23 pm (UTC)you take such good care
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Date: 2010-01-11 03:35 pm (UTC)xo
as usual, in awe of you
Date: 2010-01-11 03:24 pm (UTC)Re: as usual, in awe of you
Date: 2010-01-11 03:42 pm (UTC)Re: as usual, in awe of you
Date: 2010-01-11 05:11 pm (UTC)Re: as usual, in awe of you
Date: 2010-01-11 05:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-11 04:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-11 05:09 pm (UTC)MWAH!
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Date: 2010-01-11 08:11 pm (UTC)There is a raptor rescue place near my parents' home. My father took a hawk there and they patched him up but good. The rescue folks called to see if my father wanted to see the bird released (or take it back to his place and release it). He is not that sentimental. I would have gone and cried.
Thank you for sharing.
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Date: 2010-01-11 10:36 pm (UTC)a couple years ago i took the kids to a raptor preservation society exhibit, and was astounded. a baywing hawk flew so low over the crowd his tail feathers brushed my face. and their eyes are so intense it's like they can see right through to yr heart! sky sharks.
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Date: 2010-01-11 10:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-11 11:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-12 04:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-12 04:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-12 02:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-12 05:16 am (UTC)we all could have such won-
derful interments.
How big was it?
And also, eight arms to hold
your wrist:
http://www.modcloth.com/store/Womens/Accessories/Bracelets+and+Watches/My+Pet+Octopus+Cuff?utm_medium=CJaffiliate&utm_campaign=CJ&utm_source=CJ
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Date: 2010-01-12 02:09 pm (UTC)and i have wanted that bracelet for weeks now on etsy. you could hang little charms on it even! give him a teddy bear or starfeeshes!
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Date: 2010-01-12 07:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-12 02:14 pm (UTC)at the preservation society demonstration. they taught the hawks to hunt by tying dead mice to a long rope and teasing them, like balls of yarn for a cat. would throw them into the air and swing them like pendulums and the hawks would dive for them. it was wild to watch.
i'd love to have a raven maybe, or bird of prey, but i'm not really a parrot or canary kind of person.
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Date: 2010-01-12 04:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-12 05:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-13 10:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-13 02:41 pm (UTC)