Death of a Green Finch
"How can you jubilate sitting in cages?"
For opening night of Sweeney Todd, a friend of mine gave me a green finch as a gift. Yes, a real live bird in a cage. How crazy, yet poetic and thoughtful...so I named her Johanna Bird. She was he was a rare green Lady Gouldian Finch from Australia. She was beautiful, and would chirp all day. Another friend of mine, who knew they thrived in pairs, bought me a boyfriend bird for Johanna Bird a few weeks later. I named him Picasso because of his bright bold coloring. As soon as they were together, they were so much happier. Chirping all day, scurrying and flying around the cage, they seemed to be content, they seemed like they loved each other...
"Are you discussing, or fussing, or simply dreaming? Are you crowing? Are you screaming?"
Finches are very fragile and delicate. They need special care and attention. They are prone to sickness and must be warm at all times....
Yesterday afternoon, I returned home from running errands and my birds weren't making any noise. I thought it odd, but continued my routine. After a few more minutes, I walked up to the cage to find them both dead in the bottom of the cage. They were laying close together. Head to toe, facing each other. Johanna's eyes were open and Picasso's were closed. It was so poetic and sad. I began to cry, thinking that maybe the finches were sick and I had no way of knowing. Or maybe the changing temperatures from my apartment heater made them die. It is still a mystery. I wondered if Johanna died first, and then Picasso refused to hold on for life. I wondered if they tried to help each other up, chirping to each other, staring at each other. It was such a Romeo and Juliet moment...starstruck lovers, trapped in a caged existence.
"If I cannot fly, let me sing."
Looking at the place where the cage used to sit, I am strangely at ease. Birds aren't supposed to be in cages. Though beautiful and seemingly content, living in a small cage in a west village apartment is not where a bird should live. They are free now, to sing and fly, somewhere. When I sang "Green Finch and Linnet Bird" last night at the show, my thoughts of confusion, death, freedom, rest, and sadness for the birds surfaced. They will always be in my mind now when I sing this song...
For opening night of Sweeney Todd, a friend of mine gave me a green finch as a gift. Yes, a real live bird in a cage. How crazy, yet poetic and thoughtful...so I named her Johanna Bird. She was he was a rare green Lady Gouldian Finch from Australia. She was beautiful, and would chirp all day. Another friend of mine, who knew they thrived in pairs, bought me a boyfriend bird for Johanna Bird a few weeks later. I named him Picasso because of his bright bold coloring. As soon as they were together, they were so much happier. Chirping all day, scurrying and flying around the cage, they seemed to be content, they seemed like they loved each other...
"Are you discussing, or fussing, or simply dreaming? Are you crowing? Are you screaming?"
Finches are very fragile and delicate. They need special care and attention. They are prone to sickness and must be warm at all times....
Yesterday afternoon, I returned home from running errands and my birds weren't making any noise. I thought it odd, but continued my routine. After a few more minutes, I walked up to the cage to find them both dead in the bottom of the cage. They were laying close together. Head to toe, facing each other. Johanna's eyes were open and Picasso's were closed. It was so poetic and sad. I began to cry, thinking that maybe the finches were sick and I had no way of knowing. Or maybe the changing temperatures from my apartment heater made them die. It is still a mystery. I wondered if Johanna died first, and then Picasso refused to hold on for life. I wondered if they tried to help each other up, chirping to each other, staring at each other. It was such a Romeo and Juliet moment...starstruck lovers, trapped in a caged existence.
"If I cannot fly, let me sing."
Looking at the place where the cage used to sit, I am strangely at ease. Birds aren't supposed to be in cages. Though beautiful and seemingly content, living in a small cage in a west village apartment is not where a bird should live. They are free now, to sing and fly, somewhere. When I sang "Green Finch and Linnet Bird" last night at the show, my thoughts of confusion, death, freedom, rest, and sadness for the birds surfaced. They will always be in my mind now when I sing this song...
posted by Lauren Molina at 7:28 AM
8 Comments:
Along with being a beautiful musician, you are a beautiful writer! That's such a poignant story. I suppose you're right and that the birds are happier (wherever they may be) now that they've been freed from their cage.
I loved your performance in Sweeney and you were so gracious at the stage door, so thank you for that. I look forward to reading many more wonderful blog posts from you!
True, True, but how do you feel about dogs? ;)
Nic D.
Well that was one of the most beautiful things I've ever read.
(you were spectacular in Sweeney Todd today, by the way. 'member me? checkered hat, front row?)
Looking very forward to reading more from you.
:)
I'm so sorry about your birds! I'm a bird lover and recently lost my cockatiel that I'd had for 20 years... so sad. I'm very sorry.
You are FANTASTIC in Sweeney... congrats on the success of the show... it's truly a remarkable piece of theatre!!
That's so sad...and oddly poetic...it makes me want to go to a zoo and set all the birds free.
You were wicked brilliant in Sweeney Todd, I just saw it a few days ago.
I had a budgie once, when I was really little, and she used to dance to certain oldies tunes when they came on the radio. I had her for a few months, and then one night she was on the bottom of her cage and we realized she couldn't move her left side; my Mom said she'd had a stroke and that it was probably a pet store virus and she didn't have long to live. She was probably right; the bird died that night after all, but I was so sad.
You're right though, that birds don't deserve to be in cages. Not little house cages like that, anyway. They're too fragile. It's hard because people want to keep beautiful things for themselves and hold onto that which is fragile much too tightly.
<3
I found your post by searching after the death of my finch just a few hours ago. The first thing I thought of was the Green Finch and Linnet Bird song. Just wanted to say that I found your post oddly comforting. Thank you
a wonderful Beauty like a green finch or finches well never die they may move on but they remane with you forever. may you find them agen some day outside a cage
"Outside the sky waits
beckoning!
Beckoning!"
be still your mind
yes they pased away
but ther finlly free from a cage forever
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