yesterday I heard the final song of the kaua 'i 'o 'o, a subtropical songbird endemic to Kaua 'i of the Hawaiian Islands. It wasn't the actual bird itself, as I'm not in Hawaii and the kaua 'i 'o 'o itself is now long gone, declared extinct in the early 2000's, but probably vanished decades earlier. What I heard was a recording of its most loneliest song, a male singing for a mate that no longer existed - and yet absent of hope, the song continued on...
it's what songbirds do.
singing for the sake of their own existence.
even if they're the last remaining songbird of their species.
the song always must continue.
aside from the beauty of its song, what I find myself thinking of is its final note, of the silence that followed and how it's now eternally absent from the kaua 'i 'o 'o's song. The world was in mourning and yet no one was aware. It's a forever silence, there's now one less song to fill its air, and I don;t know how to join this mourning. My own grief is unable to be truly expressed, it seems fitting to remain in silence after the final loneliest note is heard, as anything spoken in the immediacy of this grief would diminish the poignancy of the kaua 'i 'o 'o's final song.
it's a forever silence now.
and the only way the world can mourn.
~
Peace, Eric
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