John Hay - 1915-2011
“I picked it up, and what a trembling there was in it, what a whirring heart! I carried it back to the car, thinking to clean the oil off later and see if I could bring it back to health, always a precarious job. But after a few minutes in the heated car the bird’s blood began to flow from its breast, to my great dismay, and there seemed to be little I could do about it. I began to feel like a terrible meddler and a coward. With that I took it back to calmer waters, on the bay side of the Cape, and let it go without illusions about the cruel mother that might take care of it better than I, but I felt my fruitless attempts to save it would be worse…That bird, which had bloodied me and been so close and warm in my hand, left me on the beach to shake with the weight of human ignorance.” —John Hay, “The Dovekie and the Ocean Sunfish”
13 Notes/ Hide
-
erictaubert posted this
