Saturday, January 24, 2009

Ritual of Duty and Devotion




We were at the de Young today for the Yves Saint Laurent Retrospective (a good show and a great collection of his work) when we happened upon the sweetest scene. We were on our way to the gift shop when we passed a window and noticed a pigeon waddle by. He had a leaf in his mouth and was hastily heading in our direction. At his destination? Another pigeon nestled amongst a spread of leaves each of which had already made the trek from the corner of the courtyard in the beak of it's proud courier. We watched as he fulfilled his duty with dogged determination -- waddling around, tossing aside everything except the best leaves (nothing torn or mangled made the cut), and returning with his find to the side of his truest mate. Each leaf a representation of the relationship between the two birds. Sure, I may be romanticising things a bit but with all of the drama that we fill our lives with on a daily basis, isn't it nice to be reminded of how simple true devotion can be?

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