Do you stop and pause when you see a cardinal? I always do. I am immediately reminded of loved ones who have died.
What’s that expression – “when a cardinal appears, an angel is near”?
A friend sent me the above photo as we were talking on the phone, a scene from her back yard that very moment. She said there were many more cardinals on the ground, that aren’t in the photo. So many cardinals, all at once!
Later that same day, we received some crushing, devastating news about a family member. I think back on the beautiful sight of these cardinals, all together, and can’t help but wonder if they were almost an ‘early warning system,’ a foreshadowing…reminding of love and hope.
It led to this poem…
we got you you know how if you are a ways apart from someone you adore say, across a plaza, or on the other side of the road, you might take your hat off (if you have a hat) and tip it, jostle it, wave it in the air give a happy loving boisterous “hey hey!” this is what cardinals do offering a bit of love from across the way a kiss an embrace a tender look through time also when they gather by the many when you count five six seven or more when you see their bold dotting bright red splashes adorning winter brown branches this is hey, we got you! you are not alone you are not forgotten this means pray, baby, pray be listening be alert be assured you are being held by many feel the power of all we got you
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