Yellow Bird

“Grant me the ability to be alone, May it be my custom to go outdoors each day among the trees and grasses among all growing things and there may I be alone, and enter into prayer to talk with the one that I belong to.” — Nachman of Breslov

The words on the stems of the cherry leaves invite us outdoors, which was perhaps a radical notion at that time and place. that it was just as valid to commune with the divine in nature as within the confines of a room with other men pouring over the Torah.

The sunny yellow canary aludes to music, but she’s also the proverbial canary in the coal mine, awaking us to be vigilant. The long ribbon streaming from her beak has the melody and then the words of Eli Eli or A Walk to Cesaria by Hannah Szenes. 

Eli, Eli,
I pray that these things never end,
The sand and the sea,
The rustle (rush) of the waters, 
(The crash) Lightning of the Heavens,
The prayer of Man (heart).

— A Walk to Cesaria by Hannah Szenes.