It Was Passed from One Bird to Another (or New Tea Jar)

This tea jar is one of the treasures I brought home from Taiwan.  I fell in love with the pretty little bird and the fact that it had two vignettes, front and back.  It's from the "spring scenery" line of products made by the Eilong company.  And the little blue bird on the right is a special gift from a very sweet friend.  It's Iranian glass.

Here's a favorite poem about travel (and birds) to celebrate my new treasure.  I added the bold emphasis.   It's how I want to re-member my travels, the gift of a day, suspended between sun and geography.

Bird
by Pablo Neruda
It was passed from one bird to another,
the whole gift of the day.
The day went from flute to flute,
went dressed in vegetation,
in flights which opened a tunnel
through the wind would pass
to where birds were breaking open
the dense blue air -
and there, night came in.

When I returned from so many journeys,
I stayed suspended and green
between sun and geography -
I saw how wings worked,
how perfumes are transmitted
by feathery telegraph,
and from above I saw the path,
the springs and the roof tiles,
the fishermen at their trades,
the trousers of the foam;
I saw it all from my green sky.
I had no more alphabet
than the swallows in their courses,
the tiny, shining water
of the small bird on fire
which dances out of the pollen.