The Hush of Cedar Waxwings

They arrived with a hush.

How fitting that seemed for birds clothed in peach and ivory. Nothing about them demanded attention, yet everything about them invited it.

I found myself unable to look away, as though they had arrived carrying a secret.

Something about those birds quietly held me there.

It felt as though if I walked away too quickly, I would miss whatever they had come to teach.

Their movements were unlike anything I had seen before.

Gentle.

Unhurried.

They gathered among the berries, and then something curious caught my eye.

One bird would pluck a berry and offer it to another.

Back and forth it went.

Again.

And again.

Neither hurried.

Neither grasped.

I found myself no longer simply watching birds.

I was watching a question unfold before me.

What does this mean?

I sat there, strangely certain I was being shown something.

I simply didn’t know what it was yet.

Only later did I learn that cedar waxwings are known for this quiet exchange. During courtship they may pass a berry back and forth several times before one finally receives it.

As though the offering mattered as much as the eating.

As though the gift became richer because it was shared.

I could not help but think how different that rhythm feels from our own.

So much of life urges us to grasp quickly.

To secure our portion.

To make sure we receive.

Yet here, among the branches, these small birds seemed content to keep the gift moving between them.

Perhaps this is how love has always grown.

Not by holding tightly…

But by passing gifts from one life into another.

Somehow, joy seems to multiply as it moves.

Maybe that is why the waxwings moved me before I knew anything about them.

Sometimes our hearts recognize truth…

long before our minds can explain it.

Perhaps that is why they seemed to arrive wrapped in a hush.

When they finally left, they did not scatter.

They rose together.

Their peach and ivory feathers melted into one another until they looked less like separate birds and more like a watercolor rising into the morning.

Long after they disappeared beyond the trees, I found myself holding not an answer…

but a deeper wonder.

I almost looked away.

I’m grateful I didn’t.

Sometimes the smallest teachers arrive quietly.

They never ask us to admire them.

They ask only that we linger long enough…

to notice.

⸻

Thank you for lingering with me.

Has there been a moment when you almost looked away…

but didn’t?

I’d love to hear what you noticed.

— Gilda

⸻

©️ Gilda Wray. All rights reserved.