Bird's the Word by Bodhi Smith

Oct 02, 2020

"bird's the word" a brand new impression and blog from me...
 
"how in the world can you not be envious of birds? when they spread their wings as ideas hatch and imagination takes flight, the sky is no limit at all" ― bodhinku, birds   
 
"if you are a bird. i am a bird" ― noah calhoun, the notebook (video clip)
 
"everyone likes birds. what wild creature is more accessible to our eyes and ears, as close to us and everyone in the world, and as universal as a bird?" ― david attenborough, life on earth
 
"like the meeting of the pelicans and the waves, we meet and come near. the pelicans fly off, the waves roll away and we are we" ― rabindranath tagore, stray birds  
 
"hope is the thing with feathers 
that perches in the soul 
and sings the tune without the words 
and never stops at all" ― emily dickinson   
 
"rise up this morning, smiled with the rising sun...three little birds, pitched by my doorstep, singing sweet songs of melodies pure and true...singing, this is my message to you...singing, don't worry, 'bout a thing, 'cause every little thing gonna be all right..." ― bob marley, three little birds
 
"i told you that we could fly, because we all have wings. but some of us just don't know why" ― michael hutchence (inxs lead singer), never tear us apart
 
"soar like birds beyond skies of heavens reach...and our wings of dreams will dance with winds of reality" ― shah asad rizvi
 
"what a bird reveals about our hopes with being human is nothing short of magical...literally, the bird is the word, for there are so many colorful metaphors we use in language that come from the imagery of a bird" ― bodhinku, the bird is the word
 
today's song selection, a classic  from 1963 by a nutty surf band...it is the perfect accompaniment to connect music with the meaning of my impression and blog today: "surfin' bird" by the trashmen ...(just click on any of the words in the blue links to listen to the musical selection)....
 
"a-well-a everybody's heard about the bird. b-b-b-bird, b-bird's the word. a-well, a bird, bird, bird, bird is the word. a-well, a bird, bird, bird, well-a bird is the word. a-well, a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word. a-well, a bird, bird, bird, well-a bird is the word. a-well, a bird, bird, b-bird is the word. a-well, a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word. a-well, a bird, bird, bird, well-a bird is the word. a-well, a bird, bird, b-bird's the word. a-well-a don't you know about the bird? well, everybody knows that the bird is the word...a-well-a-bird, bird, b-bird's the word, a-well-a. a-well-a everybody's heard about the bird. bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word. a-well, a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word. a-well, a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word. a-well, a bird, bird, b-bird's the word. a-well, a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word. a-well, a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word. a-well, a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word. a-well, a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word. a-well-a don't you know about the bird? well, everybody's talking about the bird! a-well-a bird, bird, b-bird's the word. a-well-a bird, surfing bird...brr, brr, ah, ah, ah, bap-a-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pap...ma-ma-mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa. ma-ma-mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa. ma-ma-mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa. ma-ma-mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa. ma-ma-mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa. ma-ma-mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa. ma-ma-ma-ma-mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa. ma-ma-ma-ma-mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa ma-ma-mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa. ma-ma-mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa. ma-ma-mow, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa. ma-ma-mow, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa. ma-ma-ma-ma, ma-ma-mow. ma-ma-ma-ma, ma-ma-mow. ma-ma-mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa. ma-ma-mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow...a-well-a don't you know about the bird? well, everybody knows that the bird is the word. a-well, a bird, bird, b-bird's the word. a-well-a mow, mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa. ma-ma-mow, ma-ma, mow, pa-pa" ― the trashmen, surfin' bird 
 
"we'll live in birds and flowers and dragonflies and pine trees and in clouds and in those little specks of light you see floating in sunbeams" ― philip pullman, his dark materials 
 
"i always wonder why birds choose to stay in the same place when they can fly anywhere on the earth, then i ask myself the same question" ― harun yahya, the little man in the tower  
 
"if you listen to birds, every day will have a song in it" ― kyo maclear, birds are life 
 
"may my heart always be open to little birds who are the secrets of living. whatever they sing is better than to know" ― e. e. cummings  
 
"take these broken wings...you got to learn to fly, learn to live and love so free. when we hear the voices sing, the book of love will open up for us and let us in" ― mister mister, broken wings 
 
"the reason birds can fly and we can't is simply because they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings" ― j.m. barrie, peter pan  
 
"the nature of reality, like a bird, needs two wings to fly, one wing is wisdom and the other is compassion to balance it out" ― siddhartha gautama buddha, the dhammapada   
  
"you were born with potential. you were born with goodness and trust. you were born with ideals and dreams. you were born with greatness. you were born with wings. you are not meant for crawling, so don't. you have wings. learn to use them and fly" ― jalaluddin rumi, the essential rumi  
 
"your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding of muscles, the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as birds' wings" ― jalaluddin rumi  
 
"be grounded like a human and spend your money on things money can buy, but be flighty like the birds and spend your time on things money can't buy" ― bodhinku, be like birds    
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MEANING
"but the birds really know us too. in their innocent wisdom, they are sending us a message, if only we dare to truly listen to their song...they have been watching us like we watch them...and they all know this kind of certainty comes but once in a lifetime. they know: if you're a bird, i'm a bird" ― bodhinku, the birds know     
 
because of all the birds in this composition, 26 in all, each doing its own thing just off-shore at the beach, one title easily came to mind for this impression, "bird's the word" lyrics from the fun and nonsensical song by the trashmen called "surfin' bird" where the only lyrics of: "the bird's the word" are stuttered and repeated over and over and over...a fun song to really kinda be a metaphor of how birds are in nature...
 
but like always with me, the meaning of this impression goes so much more deeper...
 
and this is another impression whose meaning is really all about the hope of "her." the beautiful bird of my dreams. the lady that i want to live a fairytale with for the rest of our lives together...written for her to read is every single quote of love in this and so many of the past months of blogs, i hope she sees and reads my words, and one day tells me "if you're a bird. i'm a bird"... i hope she is ready for me, i hope she finally comes out of my visions and dreams and she finds me as i find her one day, and we get lost and found in each others eyes for always...
 
i love birds, truly i'm envious of them. being able to be so free, to float on air and fly wherever they desire. birds live life to its fullest in the short time they have. birds are unassuming. birds are not political or religious, or have hidden agendas. birds are open books, simple, and easy going. birds do not overthink, they just act on their instincts and let life flow. birds are peaceful and in balance with nature. birds are colorful, delicate, graceful artists. birds sing joyful tunes all the time. birds lighten the mood, make everyone smile and feel lighter. if there was one animal in this world that  i wish i could become, it would be a bird...they are the happiest creation in the universe.
 
and think of how so very colorful so many birds are...cardinals, blue birds, finches, hummingbirds, macaws, pelicans, penguins, puffins, mandarin ducks, rollers, tanagers, lorikeets, cotingas, buntings, peacocks, toucans, flamingos...their bright colors enliven and make people feel more uplifted and hopeful...
 
i have written more poems in my life about birds, easily many many more than any other single subject...again, something so peaceful, simple, joyful, and romantic about a bird.
 
plus so many of my favorite quotes, songs and movies have birds in them. there is just something so inspiring about a bird, and what a bird reveals about our hopes with being human is nothing short of magical...literally, the bird is the word, for there are so many colorful metaphors we use in language that come from the imagery of a bird...how in the world can you not be envious of birds? when they spread their wings as ideas hatch and imagination takes flight, the sky is no limit at all..

some great phrases and idioms about birds:
"birds of a feather, flock together"..."a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush"..."feather your nest"..."spread your wings and fly"..."as free as a bird"..."happy as a lark"..."light as a feather"..."bird's eye view"..."it's the early bird that gets the worm"..."empty nest syndrome"..."egg on your face"..."how did the chicken get across the road?"..."feather in your cap"..."strictly for the birds"..."one flew over the cuckoo's nest"..."the birds and the bees"..."if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck"..."is it a bird? is it a plane? no, its superman!"..."last one there is a rotten egg"..."leave the nest"..."take like a duck to water"..."nest egg"..."on a wing and a prayer"..."pecking order"..."the rare bird"..."sky high"..."a swan dive"..."watch the birdie"..."carry a tune like a bird"..."which came first, the chicken or the egg?"..."wild goose chase"..."swan's song"..."just wing it"..."graceful as a swan"..."proud as a peacock"..."as the crow flies"..."eagle eye"..."eat like a bird"..."take someone under your wing"..."crazy as a loon"..."night owl"..."a lame duck"..."right wing conservative"..."left wing liberal"..."a sitting duck"..."get all all your ducks in a row"..."a little bird told me"..."flew the coop"..."what's good for the goose is good for the gander"..."gather your geese and get the flock outta here"..."she is no spring chicken"
 
i just seldom take images of birds, because they are not very conducive subjects to my style of long exposure photography. quite frankly, they move to fast and too much. tons of my seascape actually had birds in them, but they disappear in the creation of any long exposure since they do not sit still long enough, or stay put long enough to show up in the final exposure over time...
 
so i figured out a method to accommodate the birds and my style of photography, and as you can see here with this impression, my ideas worked out nicely! (for more details on the "how", see the "about the impression" section below)

"i was a fallen bird, with
broken wings.
i had a lifeless heart that 
had given up on flying. but, 
i had not forgotten
the joys of how it was to fly.
i just did not care anymore,
the romantic in me dried up.
i lost my pathway of love, and 
the excitement of flying. because...
i had no one to soar the heavens. but, 
you mended my wings,
you filled my heart with life,
you accepted me for the bird i am, and 
you pulled me back up
high into the sky to float
feather-tip to feather-tip with you,
the bird of my dreams....
you, who turned my life into
 a reality of beautiful truth" ― bodhinku, a fallen bird rises
 
and here is another beautiful and calming song by the reggae pioneer, bob marley "three little birds" by bob marley ...i sound old, but they just do not make songs like this anymore...(just click on any of words in the blue links to listen to the song)...  

"don't worry about a thing, 'cause every little thing's gonna be alright. singing don't worry about a thing, 'cause every little thing's gonna be alright...rise up this mornin'. smiled with the risin' sun. three little birds pitch by my doorstep, singin' sweet songs of melodies pure and true. saying': this is my message to you...singing' don't worry 'bout a thing, 'cause every little thing's gonna be alright. singing' don't worry (don't worry) 'bout a thing, 'cause every little thing gonna be alright...rise up this mornin'. smiled with the risin' sun. three little birds pitch by my doorstep, singin' sweet songs of melodies pure and true. saying': this is my message to you...singing' don't worry 'bout a thing, 'cause every little thing's gonna be alright. singing' don't worry (don't worry) 'bout a thing, 'cause every little thing gonna be alright..." ― bob marley, three little birds
  
"why do birds fly? because they love the art of flying...why do people love? because we love the art of loving...being in love is like being a bird and flying...if you're not embracing love right now, you're just a bird wanting to fly" ― bodhinku, love and flying    
 
"i see us floating across time and space together, feather-tip to feather-tip, not worrying about a thing"
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MORE BODHIKU QUOTES
and now here are a few more quotes from bodhinku from past blogs to help add to the deeper meaning of this blog today...
 
"if i am the tree, then 
you are deep roots
connecting to the earth
holding me up.

if you are the branches, then 
i am gooey sap
flowing through the wood
filling you up.

if i am the leaves, then
you are warm winds
singing through the air
perking me up.

if you are a bird
perched on a high branch, then 
i am a bird
sitting right next to you,
ready to soar together
up, and up." ― bodhinku, up
 
"two birds in a nest
free and singing with such zest
two birds at their best" ― bodhinku, two bird (haiku)  
 
"how can you be holding me from doing what i want to do, when all i want to do is hold you?" ― bodhinku, holding  
 
"this beautiful bird, a little yellow-breasted finch, landed on my windowsill...she just stopped my time flow...i looked at her, for i could see nothing else mattered in that moment, and she looked directly at me, and then turned her head slightly sideways, and then quickly back...she then sang to me a wonderful melody of tweets and chirps in harmony with the sound of sunshine glowing through her feathers...her wild and innocent essence warmed all my senses, to my core...and all of a sudden with an assured certainty, i knew everything was going to be alright" ― bodhinku, little bird  
 
"two birds in a nest i see
the image of you and me
singing sweet songs of we
our life's melody" ― bodhinku, bird's melody 
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STORY BEHIND THIS IMPRESSION
"i love birds, truly i'm envious of them. being able to be so free, to float on air and fly wherever they desire. birds live life to its fullest in the short time they have. birds are unassuming. birds are not political or religious, or have hidden agendas. birds are open books, simple, and easy going. birds do not overthink, they just act on their instincts and let life flow. birds are peaceful and in balance with nature. birds are delicate, graceful artists. birds sing joyful tunes all the time. birds lighten the mood, make everyone smile and feel lighter. if there was one animal in this world that  i wish i could become, it would be a bird...they are the happiest creation in the universe" ― bodhinku, birds are  
 
pictured here are twenty two pelicans (two different species too, the american white pelican and brown pelican), three cormorants, and one tern...twenty six birdies in all, each one going about their life at the beach on a warm summer morning in naples, florida.
 
back in the late spring of this year, i got a great price on direct flight tickets from san diego to orlando, florida on southwest airlines, so i decided to take a trip to florida in late july to get away from all the craziness due to the covid19 virus in southern california and to visit one of my closest friends and meet his new girlfriend...
 
i rented a camaro ss convertible for 8 days to get around the sunshine state in super sporty style...and my god was that car powerful fast and totally fun to just drive...
 
i visited for a few days with my buddy and his lady in saint petersburg, and then headed south to spend my birthday in the florida keys. i had splurged on my self and got a plush oceanfront suite at the hilton in key west for two days, and rented a wave runner one of the days to explore and scout out the altlantic side of the florida keys for possible future photo locations
 
i left st. pete and headed down towards the florida keys in the wee hours of the morning with the top down on the camaro, with the intent to stop off and catch a sunrise at the old pier pylons in naples florida along the way...and i was able to capture some other wonderful pictures of the pylons at sunrise, along with this one with these pelicans sitting on top of them too...
 
it was my birthday as well, and i have been creating the strange tradition of spending my birthday alone, by choice, so as not to have anyone make a fuss about me on that day...and nature had given me a nice gift of beautiful light, tropical morning clouds, and so many beautiful birdies while i shot these old pylons...for me, a perfect birthday all the way around...
 
and as it turned out, it was quite the lucky day with me getting this impression, plus others of the pylons (to be released later of course) as well as my picture of the lightning strike later on at the new naples pier (impression previously released called "lucky")...and on this morning, i was lucky to have all of these birds present, and lucky to have been able to capture all of the different components to be able to put this impression together fluidly (see "about the impression" section below)...  
 
i am truly a lucky guy...
 
"it seems like birds do not have a care in the world, but what is they did? we need to be kinder to the birds and respect their environment more. just imagine if birds got fed up with our atrocious treatment of them, and organized their numbers against us. could you blame them? i have never known birds of different species to flock together. the very concept is unimaginable. why, if that happened, we wouldn't stand a chance! how could we possibly hope to fight them?" ― bodhinku (with words by alfred hitchcock)
 
"what a bird reveals about our hopes with being human is nothing short of magical" ― bodhinku 
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MORE QUOTES FOR EXTRA MEANING
and here is: "i like birds" by the eels ...(just click on any of words in the blue links to listen to the musical selection)....

"i can't look at the rocket launch. the trophy wives of the astronauts. and i won't listen to their words, because i like birds...i don't care for walking downtown. crazy auto-car gonna mow me down. look at all the people like cows in a herd. well, i like birds...if you're small and on a search, i've got a feeder for you to perch on. i can't stand in line at the store, the mean little people are such a bore. but it's alright if you act like turds, because i like birds. if you're small and on a search, i've got a feeder for you to perch on...i've got a feeder for you to perch on i've got a feeder for you to perch on" ― the eels, i like birds   
 
"the nature of reality, like a bird, needs two wings to fly, one wing is wisdom and the other is compassion to balance it out" ― siddhartha gautama buddha, the dhammapada
 
"take each moment watchfully. watch your breath. and that is one of the most significant practices for watching because the breath is there, continuously available for twenty-four hours a day wherever you are. the birds may be singing one day, they may not be singing some other day, but breathing is always there. sitting, walking, lying down, it is always there. go on watching the breath coming in, the breath going out. not that watching the breath is the point, the point is learning how to watch. go to the ocean and watch the waves. sit on the beach and watch people passing by. watch anything, just remember that you are a watcher. don’t become judgmental, don’t be a judge. once you start judging you have forgotten that you are a watcher, you have become involved, you have taken sides, you have chosen. you are in favor of this thought and you are against that thought. once you choose, you become identified. watchfulness is the method of destroying all identification. don’t identify yourself with anything, and slowly one learns the ultimate art of watchfulness. that’s what meditation is all about. through meditation one discovers one’s own light. that light you can call your soul, your self, your god, whatever word you choose, or you can remain just silent, because it has no name. it is a nameless experience, tremendously beautiful, ecstatic, utterly silent, but it gives you the taste of eternity, of timelessness, of something beyond worlds" ― siddhartha gautama buddha, hakyamuni 
 
"always try to live in a wonderful world where the sun is always shining, flowers are always blooming, birds are always singing, and you are always busy with a joyful life" ― gautama siddhartha buddha, sayings of buddha   
 
"the bird that chases two rabbits catches neither" ― confucius   
 
"while the clear-silent mind listens to a bird singing, the busy-noisy mind wonders what kind of bird is singing" ― lao tzu, tao te ching
 
"one of our birds was very friendly with the master of robes. he used to feed it nuts. as it nibbled from his fingers, he used to stroke its head, at which the bird appeared to enter a state of ecstasy. i very much wanted this kind of friendliness and several times tried to get a similar response, but to no avail. so i took a stick to try to push the bird closer to me. of course, thereafter it fled at the sight of me. this was a very good lesson in how to make friends: not by force but by compassion." ― dalai lama xiv, the art of happiness  
  
"be like a tree, bloom like a flower, sing like a bird, and dance like a peacock" ― mohandas mahatma gandhi    
  
"the richer we have become materially, the poorer we become morally and spiritually...when we look at modern man, we have to face the fact...that modern man suffers from a kind of poverty of the spirit, which stands in glaring contrast to his scientific and technological abundance; we've learned to fly the air like birds, we've learned to swim the seas like fish, and yet we haven't learned to walk the earth as brothers and sisters..." ― martin luther king, jr., strength to love
  
"maybe birds exist to teach us about the sky. and if we studied birds, maybe we could learn to be free" ― aristotle  

"the mind is trapped in the body like a bird in a cage and only when it can shed that cage can it soar and be free" ― plato
 
"the sun shines not on us but in us. the rivers flow not past, but through us. thrilling, tingling, vibrating every fiber and cell of the substance of our bodies, making them glide and sing. the trees wave and the flowers bloom in our bodies as well as our souls, and every bird song, wind song, and tremendous storm song of the rocks in the heart of the mountains is our song, our very own, and sings our love." ― john muir   
 
"as long as i live, i'll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing" ― john muir
 
"i have never known birds of different species to flock together. the very concept is unimaginable. why, if that happened, we wouldn't stand a chance! how could we possibly hope to fight them?" ― alfred hitchcock, the birds (an interview with the director) 
 
"intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings" ― salvador dali 
 
"do you ever understand what the birds are singing? you don’t. but you listen to them anyway. so, sometimes with art, it is important just to look and not understand" ― pablo picasso    
 
"a caged bird in spring knows perfectly well that there is some way in which he should be able to serve. he is well aware that there is something to be done, but he is unable to do it. what is it? he cannot quite remember, but then he gets a vague inkling and he says to himself: the others are building their nests and hatching their young and bringing them up...and then he bangs his head against the bars of the cage. but the cage does not give way, and the bird is maddened by pain. yet the prisoner lives and does not die. there are no outward signs of what is going on inside him; he is doing well, he is quite cheerful in the sunshine. but then the season of the great migration arrives, an attack of melancholy. he has everything he needs, say the children who tend him in his cage...but he looks out, at the heavy thundery sky, and in his heart of hearts he rebels against his fate. i am caged, i am caged and you say i need nothing, you idiots! i have everything but nothing i need, indeed! oh,  please give me the freedom to be a bird like other birds!" ― vincent van gogh  
 
"until each and every one of us rises into fullness, the collective cannot actualize its wholeness. until we all rush to the side of someone in need, we are all fractured beings. until we all recognize that each of us is a magnificent reflection of the universe, we are collectively blind. until everyone has what they need to flourish, we are all birds with one wing. the collective is only as healthy as its most challenged individual. our community is our flock. we rise or fall in unison" ― jeff brown, love it forward
 
"time has always held a mysterious quality to me. i always want to make the moment linger, never wanting it to end. just a little longer, i think. another few minutes. one more time. like a kid trying to stretch out heading off to bed, i do anything to avoid saying goodnight. i want to make the moment last forever...the passing of time is a different thing as a child. the days last an eternity and everything feels like it’s at the beginning of forever....but, as we age, time slips away a little faster than we would like. with increasingly unsteady fingers, we try to hold on a little longer to the precious moments that make our hearts sing. if this year has held any lesson for me, it is simply this; our time is much more limited than we would like as are the moments with the people and places we hold dear. and it can all disappear in the blink of an eye....i had a conversation recently with someone about doing things for the last time. at some point as a child you played with your favorite toy, unbeknownst to you, for the last time. it was the thing you loved most and at one point you would never pick it up again. but you had no idea when that last time was. when my dog was sick, i lived in a perpetual loop that anything that i did with her could be the last time. the last ride. the last walk. the last night. it weighed heavily on me. still I was there, with all the love that i could offer, for as long as i could offer it...as humans, we have no idea when the final time we will do something is. the last hug. the last smile. the last visit. i suppose this is why we need to cherish any moment that comes along, relishing it as deeply as we can. the very finite nature of our lives is a call to do all things with reverence, focusing on only what is most important. we have no control over any of it, and that is the hardest part of all...for me, i’m fairly certain i’ll still be like that little girl, stretching out bedtime. just a little longer. another few minutes. one more time. offering the love that i am able for as long as i am able, because it’s what i do." ― c. ara campbell      

"(like a migratory bird)
in this quiet moment
i give myself
permission to acknowledge my progress,
to focus less on the distance
i’ve still left to travel
and instead on the mighty distance
i’ve come" ― beau taplin
 
"the birds of night peck at the first stars that flash like my soul when I think of you" ― pablo neruda 
 
"clasping my arms like a climbing plant
the leaves garnered your voice, that was slow and at peace.
bonfire of awe in which my thirst was burning.
sweet blue hyacinth twisted over my soul.

i feel your eyes travelling, and the autumn is far off:
grey beret, voice of a bird, heart like a house
toward which my deep longings migrated
and my kisses fell, happy as embers.

sky from a ship. field from the hills:
your memory is made of light, of smoke, of a still pond!
beyond your eyes, farther on, the evenings were blazing.
dry autumn leaves revolved in your soul" ― pablo neruda, 100 love sonnets
 
"once upon a time, there was a bird. he was adorned with two perfect wings and with glossy, colorful, marvelous feathers. one day, a woman saw this bird and fell in love with him. she invited the bird to fly with her, and the two travelled across the sky in perfect harmony. she admired and venerated and celebrated that bird. but then she thought: he might want to visit far-off mountains! and she was afraid, afraid that she would never feel the same way about any other bird. and she thought: i’m going to set a trap. the next time the bird appears, he will never leave again...the bird, who was also in love, returned the following day, fell into the trap and was put in a cage. she looked at the bird every day. there he was, the object of her passion, and she showed him to her friends, who said: now you have everything you could possibly want...however, a strange transformation began to take place: now that she had the bird and no longer needed to woo him, she began to lose interest. the bird, unable to fly and express the true meaning of his life, began to waste away and his feathers to lose their gloss; he grew ugly; he grew deeply sad; and the woman no longer paid him any attention, except by feeding him and cleaning out his cage...one day, the bird died. the woman felt terribly sad and spent all her time thinking about him. but she did not remember the cage, she thought only of the day when she had seen him for the first time, flying contentedly amongst the clouds. if she had looked more deeply into herself, she would have realized that what had thrilled her about the bird was his freedom, the energy of his wings in motion, not his physical body. without the bird, her life too lost all meaning, and death came knocking at her door. why have you come? she asked death...so that you can fly once more with him across the sky, death replied. if you had allowed him to come and go, you would have loved and admired him ever more; alas, you now need me in order to find him again" ― paulo coelho, eleven minutes
  
"let your path be a mirror of yourself. do not be influenced by the way in which others tend their paths. you have your own soul to listen to, and the birds to tell you what your soul is saying. may your soul’s stories be beautiful and pleasing to everything around you. above all, may the stories that your soul tells you along the way be reflected in every second of your journey" ― paulo coelho, the alchemist   
 
"you will have to create the path (of life) by yourself; the path is not ready-made, lying there and waiting for you. it is just like the sky: the birds fly, but they don't leave any footprints. one cannot follow them; there are no footprints left behind" ― osho, unleashing the forces within 
 
"celebrate! already there is so much—the flowers have bloomed, the birds are singing, the sun is there in the sky—celebrate it! you are breathing and you are alive and you have consciousness, celebrate it!" ― osho, book of wisdom
 
"rather than thinking how to get love, start giving. if you give, you get. there is no other way...a bird comes and sits at your door and sings a song, and the bird will not ask you for a certificate or some sign of appreciation. he has sung the song and then happily he flies away, leaving no traces behind" ― osho, love, freedom, aloneness
 
"just look around! this immense universe is functioning so perfectly well that nothing can be added to it. it needs no improvement. seeing this, one relaxes. if stars can go on dancing and flowers can go on blooming and birds can go on singing, why not you? you also belong to this universe. you are part of it. in fact, you are the most valuable part of it, the greatest flowering is going to happen in you—the flowering of consciousness, the golden flower of being" ― osho, the secret of secrets
 
"a person is a freedom. a person is beautiful because of freedom. the bird is beautiful on the wing in the sky...you encage it, and it is no longer the same bird, remember" ― osho, fear 
 
"all desires are fulfilled, sooner or later. if you are of the habit of watching the birds fly in the sky and wonder, how free the birds are, i wish i were a bird, what freedom! what happiness! it will not be long before you become a bird...whatever desire you keep within you, it becomes a seed" ― osho, zen: the path of paradox
 
"i don’t think existence wants you to be serious. i have not seen a serious tree. i have not seen a serious bird. i have not seen a serious sunrise. i have not seen a serious starry night. it seems they are all laughing in their own ways, dancing in their own ways. we may not understand it, but there is a subtle feeling that the whole existence is a celebration" ― osho, the book of nothing
 
"the world of life and consciousness is almost like the sky...birds fly, but they don't leave any footprints. as you live deeply, sincerely, honestly, you don't leave any footprints and nobody has to follow you. everybody has to follow his own, still, small voice" ― osho, the hidden splendor 
 
"sweet spring is your
time is my time is our
time for springtime is lovetime
and viva sweet love

(all the merry little birds are
flying in the floating in the
very spirits singing in
are winging in the blossoming)

lovers go and lovers come
awandering awondering
but any two are perfectly
alone there's nobody else alive

(such a sky and such a sun
i never knew and neither did you
and everybody never breathed
quite so many kinds of yes)

not a tree can count his leaves
each herself by opening
but shining who by thousands mean
only one amazing thing

(secretly adoring shyly
tiny winging darting floating
merry in the blossoming
always joyful selves are singing)

sweet spring is your
time is my time is our
time for springtime is lovetime
and viva sweet love" ― e. e. cummings, 100 selected poems
 
"i'd rather learn from one bird how to sing, than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance" ― e. e. cummings
 
"may my heart always be open to little birds who are the secrets of living. whatever they sing is better than to know. and if men should not hear them, men are old" ― e. e. cummings
 
"say i'm a bird! say it! say it now! you're a bird...now say you're a bird too...if you're a bird, i'm a bird" ― nicholas sparks, the notebook
 
"i am lost without you. i am soulless, a drifter without a home, a solitary bird in a flight to nowhere. i am all these things, and i am nothing at all. this, my darling, is my life without you. i long for you to show me how to live again" ― nicholas sparks, message in a bottle  
 
"the early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese" ― oliver benjamin, the tao of the dude 
 
"the bird that would soar above the plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings" ― douglas adams, the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy  
 
"if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands" ― douglas adams, the restaurant at the end of the universe  
 
"the hitchhiker's guide says there is an art to flying, or rather a knack. the knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss" ― douglas adams, life, the universe and everything  

"he learned to communicate with birds and discovered their conversation was fantastically boring. it was all to do with windspeed, wingspans, power-to-weight ratios and a fair bit about berries" ― douglas adams, so long and thanks for all the fish 

"the soul has illusions as the bird has wings: it is supported by them" ― victor hugo   

"be like the bird who, pausing in her flight awhile on boughs too slight, feels them give way beneath her, and yet sings, knowing she hath wings" ― victor hugo
 
"be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her, still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings" ― victor hugo, les miserables  
 
"she sat by his side. there were no more words. the stars were beginning to shine. and he thought: how was it that the birds sing, that the snow melts, that the rose opens, that may blooms, that the dawns whitens behind the black trees on the shivering summit of the hills?...one kiss, and that was all. all was answered. both trembled, and they looked at each other in the darkness with brilliant eyes" ― victor hugo, les miserables  
 
"why is it that the hardest thing in the world is to convince a bird that he is free, and that he can prove it for himself if he’d just spend a little time practicing? why should that be so hard?" ― richard bach, jonathan livingston seagull  
 
"why is it so hard to be like the rest of the flock, jon? why can’t you leave low flying to the pelicans, the albatross? why don’t you eat? son, you’re bone and feathers!...i don’t mind being bone and feathers, mom. i just want to know what i can do in the air and what i can’t, that’s all. i just want to know" ― richard bach, jonathan livingston seagull 
 
"until he found that bird, life would remain gray and bleak, illogical, without purpose; every seagull would remain a coincidental collection of blood and feathers pointed toward oblivion" ― richard bach, jonathan livingston seagull 
 
"most gulls don’t bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight—how to get from shore to food and back again. for most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating. for this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight. more than anything else, jonathan livingston seagull loved to fly. this kind of thinking, he found, is not the way to make one’s self popular with other birds" ― richard bach, jonathan livingston seagull 
 
"the human mind is like two birds sitting on a branch. one of the birds is eating the fruit of the tree while the other lovingly looks on" ― deepak chopra, buddha  
 
"you talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts; and when you can no longer dwell in the solitude of your heart, you live in your lips, and sound is a diversion and a pastime. and in much of your talking, thinking is half murdered. for thought is a bird of space, that in a cage of words may indeed unfold its wings but cannot fly" ― khalil gibran, the prophet  
 
"a world without poetry and art would be too much like one without birds or flowers: bearable but a lot less enjoyable" ― aberjhani, visions of a skylark dressed in black   
 
"the sparrow is sorry for the peacock at the burden of its tail" ― rabindranath tagore, stray birds
 
"faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark" ― rabindranath tagore, stray birds  
 
"a bird is safe in its nest...but that is not what its wings are made for" ― amit ray, world peace: the voice of a mountain bird  
 
"soar like birds beyond skies of heavens reach...and our wings of dreams will dance with winds of reality" ― shah asad rizvi  

"a bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song" ― maya angelou
 
"a free bird leaps on the back of the wind
and floats downstream till the current ends
and dips his wing in the orange suns rays and dares to claim the sky.

but a bird that stalks down his narrow cage
can seldom see through his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.

the caged bird sings with a fearful trill
of things unknown but longed for still
and his tune is heard on the distant hill
for the caged bird sings of freedom.

the free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn and he names the sky his own.

but a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.

the caged bird sings with a fearful trill
of things unknown but longed for still
and his tune is heard on the distant hill
for the caged bird sings of freedom" ― maya angelou, the complete collected poems  
 
"i live there...
where the birds are infinite
everywhere
where they flee
it's a place your eyes can wander
but never see
where everyone accepts me,
without any pretense
it's a place your mind can picture
but never really comprehend" ― sanober khan, turquoise silence

"i will greet this day with love in my heart. and how will i speak? i will laud mine enemies and they will become friends; i will encourage my friends and they will become brothers. always will i dig for reasons to applaud; never will i scratch for excuses to gossip. when i am tempted to criticize, i will bite my tongue; when i am moved to praise, i will shout from the roofs...is it not so that birds, the wind, the sea and all nature speaks with the music of praise for their creator? cannot i speak with the same music to his children? henceforth, will i remember this secret and it will change my life" ― og mandino, the greatest salesman in the world
 
"negativity is totally unnatural. it is a psychic pollutant, and there is a deep link between the poisoning and destruction of nature and the vast negativity that has accumulated in the collective human psyche. no other life-form on the planet knows negativity, only humans, just as no other life-form violates and poisons the earth that sustains it. have you ever seen an unhappy flower or a stressed oak tree? have you come across a depressed dolphin, a frog that has a problem with self-esteem, a cat that cannot relax, or a bird that carries hatred and resentment? the only animals that may occasionally experience something akin to negativity or show signs of neurotic behavior are those that live in close contact with humans and so link into the humans mind and its insanity" ― eckhart tolle, practicing the power of now  
 
"it is probably too much to hope that some great ecosystem keeper in the sky will reach down and put right our environmental abuses. it is up to us. it should not be impossibly difficult. birds—whose intelligence we tend to malign—know not to foul the nest. shrimps with brains the size of lint particles know it. algae know it. one-celled microorganisms know it. it is time for us to know it too" ― carl sagan, pale blue dot  
 
"birds are the eyes of heaven, and flies are the spies of hell"― suzy kassem, rise up and salute the sun 
 
"a leaf fluttered in through the window this morning, as if supported by the rays of the sun, a bird settled on the fire escape, joy in the task of coffee, joy accompanied me as i walked" ― anais nin, henry and june    
 
"for everything in this journey of life we are on, there is a right wing and a left wing: for the wing of love there is anger; for the wing of destiny there is fear; for the wing of pain there is healing; for the wing of hurt there is forgiveness; for the wing of pride there is humility; for the wing of giving there is taking; for the wing of tears there is joy; for the wing of rejection there is acceptance; for the wing of judgment there is grace; for the wing of honor there is shame; for the wing of letting go there is the wing of keeping. we can only fly with two wings and two wings can only stay in the air if there is a balance. two beautiful wings is perfection. there is a generation of people who idealize perfection as the existence of only one of these wings every time. but i see that a bird with one wing is imperfect. an angel with one wing is imperfect. a butterfly with one wing is dead. so this generation of people strive to always cut off the other wing in the hopes of embodying their ideal of perfection, and in doing so, have created a crippled race." ― c. joybell c.
 
"no bird in a cage has ever come to know what the mountain winds feel like, by staring at the free flying birds, wishing that they would fall from the sky!" ― c. joybell c.
 
"now, you are the bird who needs a tree to live in; if you choose to live in the tree which thrives in the realm of freedom, that doesn't mean you are not committed to that tree. you are still committed to your tree, but together you and your tree live in freedom. freedom is not the absence of commitment" ― c. joybell c. 
    
"when you awaken in the morning’s hush, i am the swift uplifting rush of quiet birds in circled flight. i am the soft stars that shine at night. do not stand at my grave and cry, i am not there; i did not die" ― lisa kleypas, seduce me at sunrise
  
"i lacked some essential skill for attracting people, for giving and receiving love easily. it meant too much to me. i seemed to be driving away the people i most wanted the most. finally i had realized that getting someone to love you was like trying to coax a bird to perch on your finger, it wouldn't happen unless you stopped trying so hard" ― lisa kleypas, love in the afternoon 
 
"americans and romance. it’s like watching a bird try to fly with one wing" ― lisa kleypas, tempt me at twilight 
 
"before i fell
in love with words,
with setting skies
and singing birds—
it was you i fell
in love with first"― lang leav, love & misadventure 
  
"a fish and a bird may indeed fall in love, but where shall they live?" ― elizabeth gilbert, big magic
 
"sit quietly for now and cease your relentless participation. watch what happens. the birds do not crash dead out of the sky in mid-flight, after all. the trees do not wither and die, the rivers do not run red with blood. life continues to go on….why are you so sure that your micromanagement of every moment in this whole world is so essential? why don’t you let it be?" ― elizabeth gilbert, eat, pray, love
 
"meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again. whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting–over and over announcing your place in the family of things" ― mary oliver
 
"heavenly bodies are nests of invisible birds" ― dejan stojanovic, the sign and Its children 
  
"there is a blue bird in my heart that wants to get out" ― charles bukowski
 
and with all of this plethora of quotes, you are only about halfway through ones i have selected by other authors with a deeper meaning about "nothing"...so,  here is another beautifully poignant song with beautiful apropos lyrics to give listen, a true classic of wisdom to help anyone find some peace in their life in times of trouble, or ego, or nothing going right, by breathing and just letting things be: "blackbird" by the beatles ...(just click on any of words in the blue links to listen to the song)...  

"blackbird singing in the dead of night. take these broken wings and learn to fly. all your life you were only waiting for this moment to arise. blackbird singing in the dead of night. take these sunken eyes and learn to see. all your life you were only waiting for this moment to be free. blackbird fly, blackbird fly into the light of a dark black night. blackbird fly, blackbird fly into the light of a dark black night. blackbird singing in the dead of night. take these broken wings and learn to fly. all your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise. you were only waiting for this moment to arise. you were only waiting for this moment to arise" ― the beatles, blackbird
 
"sturdy swimmers afloat on water-couch
beneath the heavy bill their treasured pouch
fishes pray for them to fly far away
inland lakes toast to the pelican’s day" ― munia khan, attainable  

"wings are of many kinds. butterfly's wings, vulture's wings, eagle-wings, spread wings of white swans, dragonfly's serene wings, wings of albatross, lovely wings of humming birds, tiny wings of a fly or a bumble-bee-wings; and when they fly, they fly their best according to their ability of flying. we should not underestimate the size of those heavenly wings" ― munia khan, attainable
 
"wings can only fly
as long as the bird flies
soul blackens when you
put on vestment of lies
white candle wax cries
for ignitable wick
jealous people burn
to make your heart feel sick" ― munia khan, to evince the blue   
 
"every morning
before the birds start
trilling me their stories,
i give birth to a new love
through my same old heart
when a lake’s placidity
finds life in the swans breath
only for you" ― munia khan, to evince the blue  
 
"lovers are the best birds in the world when they know how to fly higher..." ― munia khan, attainable
      
"and if you are not a bird, then beware of coming to rest above an abyss" ― friedrich nietzsche, twilight of the idols 
 
"the brightness of her eyes would shame those stars as daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven would through the airy region stream so bright that birds would sing, and think it were not night" ― william shakespeare, romeo and juliet 
 
"the birds that were singing in the dew-drenched garden seemed to be telling the flowers about her" ― oscar wilde, the picture of dorian gray  
 
"the birds did not understand a single word of what he was saying, but that made no matter, for they put their heads on one side, and looked wise, which is quite as good as understanding a thing, and very much easier" ― oscar wilde  

"no better way is there to learn to love nature than to understand art. it dignifies every flower of the field. and, the boy who sees the thing of beauty, which a bird on the wing becomes when transferred to wood or canvas, will probably not throw the customary stone" ― oscar wilde
 
"sometimes i think that the point of birdwatching (and photography) is not the actual seeing of the birds (or the scene), but the cultivation of patience. of course, each time we set out, there's a certain amount of expectation we'll see something, maybe even a species (or an image) we've never seen before, and that it will fill us with light. but even if we don't see anything remarkable, and sometimes that happens, we come home filled with light anyway" ― w.b. yeats (bodhinku), the wind among the reeds
 
"the shell must break before the bird can fly" ― alfred lord tennyson, in memoriam  
 
"there are no birds in last year's nest" ― henry wadsworth longfellow, evangeline: a tale of acadie  
 
“there are more chickens than a man can know in this world, but an unprovoked kindness is the rarest of birds" ― mark twain, the adventures of tom sawyer  
 
"when you have two people who love each other, are happy and gay and really good work is being done by one or both of them, people are drawn to them as surely as migrating birds are drawn at night to a powerful beacon" ― ernest hemingway, the sun also rises
 
"man is not much beside the great birds"― ernest hemingway, the old man and the sea  
 
"when she saw him face to face their eyes met and brushed like birds’ wings. after that everything was all right, everything was wonderful, she knew that he was beginning to fall in love with her" ― f. scott fitzgerald, tender is the night  
 
"i remember my childhood names for grasses and secret flowers. i remember where a toad may live and what time the birds awaken in the summer, and what trees and seasons smelled like, how people looked and walked and smelled even. the memory of odors is very rich" ― john steinbeck, east of eden  
 
"but if the birds and flowers had tried me by their standard, i should not have been found wanting. a man must find his occasions in himself, it is true. the natural day is very calm, and will hardly reprove his indolence" ― henry david thoreau, walden  
 
"as i love nature, as i love singing birds...i love thee, my friend" ― henry david thoreau, walden  

"over the disease and sorrow,
an uncaught bird is ever hovering, hovering,
high in the purer, happier air" ― walt whitman, leaves of grass  
 
"no bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings" ― william blake, the marriage of heaven and hell
 
"how can a bird that was born for joy sit in a cage and sing?"― william blake, the marriage of heaven and hell 
     
"wherever snow falls, or water flows, or birds fly, wherever day and night meet in twilight, wherever the blue heaven is hung by clouds, or sown with stars, wherever are forms with transparent boundaries, wherever are outlets into celestial space, wherever is danger, and awe, and love, there is beauty" ― ralph waldo emerson   
 
"hold fast to dreams,
for if dreams die
life is a broken-winged bird,
that cannot fly" ― langston hughes, the collected poems
 
"a small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself" ― d.h. lawrence, the complete poems  

"go, go, go, said the bird: human kind
cannot bear very much reality.
time past and time future
what might have been and what has been
point to one end, which is always present" ― t.s.eliot, the waste land
 
"how much better is silence...how much better to sit by myself like the solitary sea-bird that opens its wings on the stake. let me sit here forever with bare things, this coffee cup, this knife, this fork, things in themselves, myself being myself" ― virginia woolf, the waves  
 
"mockingbirds don’t do one thing except make music for us to enjoy. they don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corn cribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. that’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird" ― harper lee, to kill a mockingbird
 
"caged birds accept each other, but flight is what they long for" ― tennessee williams, the glass menagerie
"tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly;
man got to sit and wonder 'why, why, why?'
tiger got to sleep, bird got to land;
man got to tell himself he understand." ― kurt vonnegut, cat's cradle
 
"at the bottom of every frozen heart there is a drop or two of love―just enough to feed the birds" ― henry miller, tropic of capricorn
 
"when the bird of the heart begins to sing, too often will reason stop up her ears" ― hans christian anderson, the fairy tale of my life  

"if you were a bird, and lived on high,
you'd lean on the wind when the wind came by,
you'd say to the wind when it took you away:
that's where i wanted to go anyway today" ― a.a. milne, winnie the pooh 
 
"a fly can't bird, but a bird can fly!" ― a.a. milne, winnie the pooh
 
"the reason birds can fly and we can't is simply because they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings." ― j.m. barrie, peter pan    
 
"i'm youth, i'm joy...i'm a little bird that has broken out of the egg" ― j.m. barrie, peter pan
 
"you'll get mixed up, of course, as you already know. you'll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go. so be sure when you step. step with care and great tact and remember that life's a great balancing act. just never forget to be dexterous and deft. and never mix up your right foot with your left" ― dr. seuss, oh the places you’ll go 

"it may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird. but, it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. we are like eggs at present. and you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. we must be hatched or go bad" ― c.s. lewis, letters of c. s. lewis 
 
"his heart was leaping against his ribs like a frantic bird. perhaps it knew it had little time left, perhaps it was determined to fulfill a lifetime’s beats before the end. he did not look back " ― j.k. rowling, harry potter and the half-blood prince 
 
"i walk through the seasons and always the birds are singing and screaming and keening for love...when you're with me it seems so absurd that i should be jealous of the jay and the dove" ― veronica roth, divergent  
  
"because when he sings...even the birds stop to listen" ― suzanne collins, the hunger games 
 
"some birds are not meant to be caged, that's all. their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild. so you let them go, or when you open the cage to feed them they somehow fly out past you. and the part of you that knows it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices, but still, the place where you live is that much more drab and empty for their departure" ― stephen king, needful things
 
“some birds are not meant to be caged, that's all. their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild. so you let them go, or when you open the cage to feed them they somehow fly out past you. and the part of you that knows it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices, but still, the place where you live is that much more drab and empty for their departure” ― stephen king, the shawshank redemption   
 
"what a kid i got, i told him about the birds and the bees and he told me about the butcher and my wife" ― rodney dangerfield 

"free as a bird
it's the next best thing to be
free as a bird.
home, home and dry
like a homing bird i'll fly
as a bird on wings.
whatever happened to
the life that we once knew?
can we really live without each other?
where did we lose the touch
that seemed to mean so much?
it always made me feel so free" ― john lennon, free as a bird
 
"birds scream at the top of their lungs in horrified hellish rage every morning at daybreak to warn us all of the truth, but sadly we don't speak bird" ― kurt cobain 

“a hymn then
not to birds but to words
which themselves feel
like feather and wing
and light, as if it were
on the delicacy of
such sweet syllables
that flocks take flight" ― kei miller, the cartographer

"birds sing even when the world is filled with sadness. i don't know why people can't do the same thing"― michael gilbert, perfected sinfulness  
 
"the little bird can sing and sing
the little bird knows everything
but the little bird don't bother with song
he knows that it just goes on and on so long" ― crash test dummies
 
this following song by inxs is easily one of my all time favorites, and a song that i love to sing when i hear it...very sexy, jazzy, and beautiful meaning...
 
"don't ask me what you know is true. don't have to tell you, i love your precious heart. i...i was standing, you were there. two worlds collided and they could never tear us apart...we could live for a thousand years. but if i hurt you, i'd make wine from your tears. i told you that we could fly, because we all have wings, but some of us don't know why...i was standing, you were there. two worlds collided and they could never ever tear us apart. i...i was standing, you were there. two worlds collided, and they could never tear us apart...you were standing, i was there. two worlds collided and they could never tear us apart. i...i was standing, you were there. two worlds collided"  ― inxs, never tear us apart 
 
"seven birds in a tree,
count them and see
what they be.
one for sorrow,
two for joy,
three for a girl,
four for a boy;
five for silver,
six for gold,
seven for a secret
that's never been told" ― john brand, observations on popular antiquities  
 
"we'll cling together so tight that nothing and no one'll ever tear us apart. every atom of me and every atom of you... we'll live in birds and flowers and dragonflies and pine trees and in clouds and in those little specks of light you see floating in sunbeams... and when they use our atoms to make new lives, they won't just be able to take one, they'll have to take two, one of you and one of me, we'll be joined so tight" ― philip pullman, his dark materials
 
"you're a lot like that bird in the barn. you're so scared that you're going to be caged in forever, you can't see the way out. you smack yourself against the wall again and again and again. but the door is open. stop flying in circles and fly out" ― katie mcgarry, dare you to  
 
"you have a schedule, a calendar, a time for dinner or a movie. yet all around you, timekeeping is ignored. birds are not late. a dog does not check its watch. deer do not fret over passing birthdays...man alone measures time. man alone chimes the hour. and, because of this, man alone suffers a paralyzing fear that no other creature endures. a fear of time running out" ― mitch albom, the time keeper  
 
"isn’t that mother nature? she’s supposed to have, like, flowers in her hair and birds singing around her and dear and rabbits doing her laundry" ― rick riordan, the lost hero
  
"feathers filled the small room. our laughter kept the feathers in the air. i thought about birds. could they fly if there wasn't someone, somewhere, laughing?"― jonathan safran foer, extremely loud and incredibly close  
 
"birds born in a cage think flying is an illness" ― alejandro jodorowsky  
 
“no, no, it's not all random, if it really was all random, the universe would abandon us completely. and the universe doesn't. it takes care of its most fragile creations in ways we can't see. maybe it is a lottery, but the universe makes it all even out in the end. the universe takes care of all its birds" ― r.j. palacio, wonder  
 
"she, who prided herself on her tough exterior, could always be undone by the beauty of flight"― alice hoffman, the rules of magic  
 
"when he fell in love with birds and began to photograph them, his anxieties dissipated. the sound of birdsong reminded him to look outwards at the world" ― kyo maclear, birds are life  
 
"we are not going to change the whole world, but we can change ourselves and feel free as birds. we can be serene even in the midst of calamities and, by our serenity, make others more tranquil. serenity is contagious. if we smile at someone, he or she will smile back. and a smile costs nothing. we should plague everyone with joy. if we are to die in a minute, why not die happily, laughing?"― sri s. satchidananda, the yoga sutras  
 
"clear and crisp and clean, a rich green in the land and a bright blue in the sky, the air fat and salty and bracing, the ocean spreading like a grin. brown pelicans rise and fall in their chorus lines in the wells of the waves, cormorants arrow, an eagle kingly queenly floats south high above the water line" ― brian doyle, mink river 
"a wonderful bird is the pelican.
his beak can hold more than his belly can.
he can hold in his beak
enough food for a week!
but i'll be darned if i know how the hellhecan?” ― dixon lanier merritt  
 
"a pearl in the shell does not touch the ocean. so, be instead a pearl without a shell. a mindful flooding. a spark turned to flame. a bird settling a nest, a love lived” ― jalaluddin rumi, a year with rumi 
 
"god turns you from one feeling to another and teaches by means of opposites so that you will have two wings to fly, not one" ― jalaluddin rumi, the soul of rumi
 
"you were born with potential. you were born with goodness and trust. you were born with ideals and dreams. you were born with greatness. you were born with wings. you are not meant for crawling, so don't. you have wings. learn to use them and fly" ― jalaluddin rumi, the essential rumi  
 
"birds make great sky-circles of their freedom. how do they learn it? they fall, and through falling, they're given wings" ― jalaluddin rumi, bridge to the soul  
 
""i want to sing like the birds sing, not worrying about who hears or what they think" ― jalaluddin rumi, the music and silence of the heart
 
"a strange passion is moving in my head...my heart has become a bird which searches in the sky. every part of me goes in different directions. is it really so that the one i love is everywhere?  " ― jalaluddin rumi, poems of ecstasy and longing
 
"when a bird gets free, it does not go back for remnants left on the bottom of the cage" ― jalaluddin rumi, in the arms of the beloved
 
"life's sun is going to set. during these brief days that you have strength, be quick and spare no effort of your wings"  ― jalaluddin rumi, hush don't say anything to god 
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ABOUT THE IMPRESSION
"the higher and higher we fly on wings of love, the smaller and smaller we appear to those who have yet discovered that they have wings" ― bodhinku, wings
  
in my photography, i always use filters to create longer exposure effects and to balance the light in my composition in-camera...i often use as many as four filters at time, and i always use at least one filter...for this entire impression, to get the effects and balance i was looking for, i used two progrey filters in the capture of this composition...
 
and wow, this description about how this entire composition was created all sounds so complicated, while looking back at this lucky morning (on my birthday in july 2020)...
 
with my impression "bird's the word" here before you today, you are looking at a really complex piece of artwork, one of my most complicated impressions ever captured...this one was extremely technical in order to create this impression in the way i envisioned it in my mind. lots of foresight was needed in the field ahead of time to capture all of the images i needed, plus plenty of editing knowhow to be able to merge all of the different moving parts into one composition...and anything, any component missing, and this impression does not work out.
 
this impression comprises many different images, all captured in succession on the same morning of my birthday on 07-27-2020 starting at 7:47am...each of the eight main frame exposures was captured in two horizontal frames (one on top of the other, made of 4 exposures each), while panning across each horizontally using an induro phq3 series 5-way panhead mounted on my dolica tripod...other exposures of the birds were captured in separate frames, but all in the same exact focal length and horizontal plain as the main frame around the pylons...
 
for the main frame part of the composition, each exposure was shot with about 10% overlap both right and left of frame to the previous image, each captured in direct succession of the previous one from right to left, in two rows: lower row of 4 images was used to take much longer exposures of the water at 151 seconds, the top row of 4 images was to capture the clouds at 15 second exposures in order to have some beautiful detail in the clouds, while at the same time make them softer, like a painting...then merged as each row into one composition of the four exposures, then combined top to the bottom in a merge of the two rows together to comprise the main frame, merged into one 2.5:1 panoramic composition all using the photomerge function in adobe photoshop creative cloud...the rest of the exposures used in this composition were merged in using different layers and with the help of clone painting manually in adobe photoshop creative cloud to bring in unblurred images of each of the birds taken at 1/250th second sitting on the tops of the old pier pylons and swimming around in the water, and the one tern flying into the compositional frame...
 
for this impression, in order to create the smooth effect of the gulf of mexico sea water flowing about and around the pier pylons, as well as naturally saturate the deep powder blues of the water, and violets and reds in the clouds in each exposure, i chose to use the 3.0nd progrey antarctica filter along with the progrey g-120z magnetic holder to hold the filters and secure them to my nikon d810 mounted with a classic nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 lens (shot at f/11 at a focal length of 200mm in a landscape orientation)...
 
however, for the four shorter exposures at 15 seconds for the clouds in the sky, i used the same set of filters, at the same focal length in the same orientation, but opened up my aperture much bigger to f/2.8...and for each of the numerous images of the birds shot at 1/250 sec, i used no filters at all...plus i used a 0.9 gnd progrey aurora filter to stop down the brighter sky at the top (for each of the eight images, set of 4 images in each row) 3 stops and help balance in-camera overall the image the way i envisioned i, plus make the merge of the top row to the bottom row easier with this balance...
 
i wish to openly thank my sponsors who have always supported me through both the good and bad times...for truly this long exposure impression would not be possible without the use of my trusty induro phq3 series 5-way panhead mounted on my dolica tripod, in combination with the progreyusa filters which i use with every photo i take...
 
"if nothing else...if i open my eyes, if i cry, if i think, if i sigh, if i giggle, if i dance, if i love, if i breathe, then i have lived a full days worth of life...nothing is wasted, nothing" ― bodhinku, if nothing else
 
"contemplate without thinking. be certain only in your uncertainty. stop the world. slow down everything. let it all be. shut off the noise. relax. seize this moment. reconnect. feel and sense what surrounds you. listen to all the colors of light whisper as they envelope you. see the melody and harmony that float about unnoticed. taste the solitude of all this wonderment. smell the beautiful silence. now discover your peaceful serenity. then, reach out and touch your faith with all your senses. this is my world. awaken!" ― bodhinku, my world
 
"my photography is my way of keeping a diary" ― bodhinku, my diary  
 
above all else as always,
i hope this message and impression find you well.
 
namaste,
bodhi
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