Roadside Reminiscence

The sun was shinning and no cloud cover was in view. Few cars this early traversed the road making my ride decidedly safer and serene. I couldn't contrive in my mind a more beautiful Sunday. I was consciously consumed, contented. When suddenly I spotted something steel- gray not far ahead of me. At first I thought that it was the usual soft-shoulder debris. The closer I came it became clear to me what it was: a dead gray bird. I braked my bike, dismounted and approached it. I stooped and lifted the lifeless thing. Still warm to the touch, that it could have died a moment ago. Suddenly saddened by this find a feeling of guilt arose within me. Not knowing the nuances, with bird in hand I began to bemoan a rush of muted memories flooding my senses. I stood there alone, alive knowing somewhere, someone or some thing soon would suffer the same funereal fate. Guilty because I live to love this day sans mother, father, brother and sister. A cumulus cloud snuck across the sun further darkening my melancholy. I grudgingly gazed down at my fleshy bier, still cradling the feathery corpse. The cloud continued it's eternal course across the sunlit sky showering me with prodigious, radiant rays once more. I knelt and scooped a shallow roadside grave and placed the little lifeless bird inside while elegiac verses passed my lips. As the last of the moistened earth covered the unmarked grave I gave thanks to my God for this solemn Sunday reminiscence. I hopped back on my bike and sped away with the profoundest feeling of His Love.