TheBanyanTree: Return of the Ancients / An Honor Granted

[B Drummond]

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I heard them passing overhead today, something I've learned to relish  
with utter joy as they grant me the honor of knowing they are moving  
again and passing by me on their journey north.

Today I hear their guard calls as they fly somewhere above in the  
gray soup that is this afternoon's sky.

Danger!

Look out behind!

Follow me, for I know the way's clear.  After all, I'm still alive to  
tell you that.

Stay straight behind me and we will get there together.


They follow their leader,  whose guidance systems' code lies embedded  
deep within countless strands of DNA.  A code that today routes them  
today through inclement weather to their next destination.

The clouds lie to the ground and extend from just overhead to higher  
than they normally fly on a clear day.

They won't travel their normal distance today, but that's not their  
goal anyway.

Survival's the goal and they are exceptionally good at it, this  
oldest living species of bird on our planet.

I did not see them today but I know they passed over.

That alone is sufficient to know I am truly blessed.

Long, long live the Sandhill Crane!


http://www.savingcranes.org/species/sandhill.cfm




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