monoceros blogsThe violets explode inside me
When I meet your eyes
Then I'm spinning and I'm diving
Like a cloud of starlings
Every time I hear the word "starlings" or picture the flight of a swallow, I feel as if I've touched something beautiful.
When an Elbow song began playing the other day and I heard the phrase "A cloud of starlings," I stopped to dwell on the word, thinking on how it ranks fairly high on my list of favorite words. Perhaps it's the "star" that's nestled in the name or the "ling" suffix that makes it seem like a small, perfect bell that would fit in my palm.
Another bird that enthralls me is the swallow. The name is just a tad less beautiful but the image it conjures within me - the flight of a slender bird with long wings and a deeply forked tail - never fails to inspire me. Its French name is even lovelier - "hirondelle." I once read a book about a girl who was fascinated by poisons and mysteries; she also loved riding about town on her mother's bicycle and it was called "l'hirondelle."
Sous le vieux pont, les hirondelles
Deux fois l'an bâtissent leurs nids;
Le bonheur nous les rend fidèles
~ Charles Grandmougin
Starlings, by Elbow
When The Swallows Come Back To Capistrano, by The Ink Spots
Birds of a Feather, by The Rosenbergs