Thankful Thursday

I’m starting something called Thankful Thursday, where I will write briefly about something for which I’m grateful. If you are feeling thankful for something in particular, big or small, please make my life more interesting by leaving a comment. It doesn’t have to be a big thing; gratitude is good whether it’s for a major part of your life or a small detail of your day.
I find myself losing enthusiasm for the status quo here at Ordinary Reader so, for something different,

Clipart courtesy of Antique Images

Today I am thankful for the happy chirping of the birds outside my window. When I am homebound that sound coming in to me makes me feel content, like I’m missing less. It brings the sense of spring with its fresh green, its warming air and sunshine into my room. Birdsong has a way of lifting spirits quite unlike anything else I know.

The last two stanzas of Shelley’s “To A Skylark” say it well:

"Better than all measures
      Of delightful sound,
  Better than all treasures
      That in books are found,
 Thy skill to poet were, thou scorner of the ground!

  Teach me half the gladness
      That thy brain must know,  

 Such harmonious madness
      From my lips would flow
  The world should listen then, as I am listening now.”