First Known When Lost: How Little We Know
Once Seen, and No More
Thousands each day pass by, which we,
Once past and gone, no more shall see.
Robert Herrick, Hesperides, Poem 671, in Tom Cain and Ruth Connolly (editors), The Complete Poetry of Robert Herrick, Volume 1 (Oxford University Press 2013).
As I walked beside the flock, I focused my attention on one of the robins. I believe it was a female, because her breast feathers were a paler orange. She made her way across the field with her companions, slowly but steadily, pecking the ground, occasionally lifting her head to look around, hopping forwards and sideways, chattering now and then. I thought of the spark of Life she was. I suddenly realized that she was this robin, not a robin. There was nothing else like her in the world.
word pond 