The Bird
2006
Oil on Linen
22-1/2 x 16-1/2 inches


In the Sierras de Sangre de Cristo
is the entry,
the exit
of our home.

August 9, 2005,
we rode away.

Leaving
we found a dead bird.
Red and yellow,
a Western Tanager.
Male, hung like a Jesus.
Suspended on the fence, as if by another's hand.

I carried him with me.

Though you asked that I leave the bird be,
I could not leave him there.

"There is no world without Jesus,
there is no life without the ancients.
There is not an existence that you can understand,
all is to be said here and now.
Remain within your self and you will know.
Remain with me and we will be united.
I am within you.
You are in me,
we are the light".

Frederic Marie de Braconier