Pairs

Sometimes, I think we care about beauty only in an over-defined sense.  We will, for example, drive for miles to stand outside in the night and watch a fireworks display where bright pyrotechnic blossoms explode against the sky one after another.  But, at the same time, we may not bother to step out our back door to witness a meteor shower when shooting stars flash above us only every few minutes.

Last night, I experienced something unusual.  Something small and beautiful. 

It is said that Canada geese are monogamous.  They will mate for life once they pair up in their second year of life.  This time of year, huge flights of geese fly overtop my house in northward migration.  More notably, the pastures and grain fields in the surrounding valley fill with flocks of geese resting or feeding.

Last night, just before dusk, I sat out on my back deck to take in the last of a warm and sunny day.  As I sat there, pairs of geese, having lifted from nearby pastures, began to fly over my house.  Not whole flights.  Just pairs.  Most of them many seconds or minutes apart.

They were often no more than a dozen feet above my house as they flew off in the direction of the Big Belt Mountains.  Often, I could hear the soft whistling of air through their wings.  Some pairs were gabbling back and forth in their unintelligible language.

This was no explosion of geese above my house—just the passing of pairs.  I didn’t count the pairs, but I am guessing somewhere near a dozen flew over me.  A dozen pairs of life-mates, on their way to spring nurseries.

-- Mitchell Hegman