Blush of Dawn

What surprised me about my walk this afternoon was the amount of litter I came across when I was paying attention to it.  I saw a floss pick, a navy blue wool scarf and a turquoise blue shirt on the ground, and a white plastic bag hanging from a bare tree branch; graffiti on the mailbox.  Although I really dislike litter, these imperfections caught my attention and were somewhat interesting to observe.

Besides the ugly things, I noticed a lovely blue-green dolphin statue on a neighbor’s front lawn, the dolphin pair leaping out in opposite directions, and a wooden giraffe in a window.  Birds I couldn’t name chirped constantly (maybe I should learn about bird calls, although I don’t exactly know where to begin.)  I listened to the sound of my footsteps, soft and quick.  There were sudden movements in the trees– nothing visible. 

The air smelled of spring, wind-blown grass and maybe flowers, even though I didn’t remember seeing any. 

I carried with me a former library book that was last checked out in May of 1969 and listened to Bach, Alles mit Gott.