[Soaring Feather]

Birthdays celebrants today include:


historian and story writer Washington Irving in 1783;

author and naturalist John Burroughs in 1837;

publisher Henry Luce in 1898;

actress and "fan dancer" Sally Rand in 1904;

actress Doris Day in 1924 (age 82)

and actor Marlon Brando also in 1924;

astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom in 1926;

anthropologist Jane Goodall in 1934 (age 72);

actress Marsha Mason and entertainer Wayne Newton,
both in 1942 (age 64);

singer Tony Orlando in 1944 (age 62);

actors Alec Baldwin in 1958 (age 48)

and David Hyde Pierce in 1959 (age 47);

actor/comedian Eddie Murphy in 1961 (age 45);

actress Jennie Garth ("Beverly Hills 90210") and Olympic
skier Picabo Street, both in 1971 (age 35).

[Soaring Feather]

First Robin
by Emily Dickinson


I dreaded that first robin so,
But he is mastered now,
And I'm accustomed to him grown,--
He hurts a little, though.

I thought if I could only live
Till that first shout got by,
Not all pianos in the woods
Had power to mangle me.

I dared not meet the daffodils,
For fear their yellow gown
Would pierce me with a fashion
So foreign to my own.

I wished the grass would hurry,
So when 't was time to see,
He'd be too tall, the tallest one
Could stretch to look at me.

I could not bear the bees should come,
I wished they'd stay away
In those dim countries where they go:
What word had they for me?

They're here, though; not a creature failed,
No blossom stayed away
In gentle deference to me,
The Queen of Calvary.

Each one salutes me as he goes,
And I my childish plumes
Lift, in bereaved acknowledgment
Of their unthinking drums.