The Red Bird
The strong winds of winter were blowing in December. The freezing cold, the grey skies and the winds continued for the next three months. We thought that we would never see the sun again. The sun would appear rarely; the sunlight gave a glimmer of hope that someday we would see more days of light coming. The air was so icy and cold and the land was covered with snow. The snow continued for days. All the trees were stark branches and they had no leaves. The winter landscape was bare, monotonous and nature had died. Everything was sleeping. There weren't any animals in sight. On March 16, 2005 Estelle stood by the window alone and against the grey sky and the branches she saw only one bird. It was a striking red bird, a Cardinal. "Could this be a sign of strength and hope that nature was coming to life again?" On a lonely, cloudy, icy winter day, as the long continuous winter had overtaken the landscape, we thought that the winter would never end. One writer said, "Winter ends its brutish reign, let's all repeat that." The red cardinal was an incredible and bright symbol of hope. Suddenly the red cardinal flew away. In this world there is so much chaos, war and problems. The red cardinal is a symbol of hope. We may not see it for some time. However, we hope that it reappears with a sign of spring and of hope. The past years have been difficult with global war, environmental pollution and many conflicts. Once again we hope that the sun and the cardinal, called hope, will return.
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