The Field Has Stopped Singing�

2001-08-02

The field has stopped singing. My husband and I walk for exercise. There was this empty field between an office building and a residential area; the habitat for insects birds, rabbits and other wildlife. During the spring, when we walked by the field it was filled with the songs of the wildlife. It was wonderful to walk by and watch the finches hanging from the tops of the mustard plants, the doves on the ground, bowing and cooing their courtship dance.

There�s been a sign up for a while that said a new three-story office building was going to be built on the site. Of course the office building right next door is one third empty, as are most of the industrial complexes in our area. I�ve been hoping against hope that maybe they�d forget about the new office building, or their financing would fall through. When I drove by the field this morning, the bulldozers were there. All the brush had been plowed down. The field has stopped singing.

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