Invitation

 

Oh do you have time
        to linger
                for just a little while
                       out of your busy

and very important day
        for the goldfinches
                that have gathered
                       in a field of thistles

for a musical battle,
        to see who can sing
                the highest note,
                       or the lowest,

or the most expressive of mirth,
        or the most tender?
                Their strong, blunt beaks
                       drink the air

as they strive
        melodiously
                not for your sake
                       and not for mine

and not for the sake of winning
        but for sheer delight and gratitude—
                believe us, they say,
                       it is a serious thing

just to be alive
        on this fresh morning
                in the broken world.
                       I beg of you,

do not walk by
        without pausing

 to attend to this
                       rather ridiculous performance.

It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life

--by Mary Oliver

The goldfinches in this poem are probably American Goldfinches (photo above), seen in the eastern United States among other places.  They are different (ornithologists insist) from the goldfinches in Europe, where in medieval times (according to poet W.S. Merwin) they were symbols of eternal life.

  The American goldfinch was a familiar and always happy sight in the western Pennsylvania of my childhood, and is still a visitor to my sister Kathy's backyard there. Sightings of an American Goldfinch here have been recorded in the nearby Arcata community forest, along with the Lesser Goldfinch, but even though I'm entirely unqualified, I question them.  The most likely goldfinch here is the Lawrence Goldfinch, which is not mentioned.  The truth is that these other species, along with the female and immature American goldfinches all look very similar to the Lawrence goldfinch pictured below.  The American goldfinch male is apparently the only one dominated by the brilliant yellow and black (as above.)  I've never seen one here, though I have seen occasionally flocking in our backyard as well as individually in the neighborhood these small birds that could be goldfinches. 

 Still I miss the bold gold and black of the goldfinches I knew, though I can't say I saw more than one or two at a time, and so missed this collective song, though I too am alive in this broken world.