Reassurance

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

One winter, between Christmas and New Years, I decided to explore southern Maine. I stopped first at Portsmouth, New Hampshire and visited a wonderful park near the mouth of the river that opens to the sea. As I walked around in the grey light with snow soon approaching, I noticed this bird huddled until a bush. At first glance, I thought it was sleeping, and that it hadn't noticed me.

I slowly reached down. He still didnt move. I picked him up. He had frozen to death in his sleep. I didn’t feel sorry for this animal. What struck me was how powerful it felt to me, even though it lost its struggle to survive.

 I wanted to honor this bird in someway- it managed to survive this far, and that was probably quite a lot. When I took this photograph I knew I was moving to Maine, leaving everything and everyone I knew behind me.

 This animal made me feel that I could do that.