Save the bird

What is the most important thing you can do at any given moment?

He went out into the backyard to check the pool before starting his busy business day. A little bird, a bit smaller than a sparrow, lay on its back in the Jacuzzi, one wing open, eyes closed and not moving. He hoped for the best.

He grabbed the leaf scooper. As soon as the bird was elevated from the water, she twitched. He picked her up and lightly wrapped her in a towel. He put her on the picnic table, sat, watched, cooed and talked to her. He wrapped her so that she’d be upright, but being unconscious, she leaned. He laid out a little water and seeds he shook off his bread. Later, she’d have none of it. One eye opened and then closed. The other opened and closed. She tried to move a little and then collapsed. He petted her head's feathers, righted her and stroked her chest. Her eyes opened and closed. He used his fingernail to tap her narrow off-white beak. “Wake up. Wake up, little one.”

For the next half hour she stumbled and fell. He wouldn't leave her, wouldn't give up on her. Every other care or worry disappeared. There was only the two of them in a struggle for life. She found her footing, both eyes open and staring at him now.

After a short while and a few tentative hops, she flew to a nearby low branch where she gazed at him. Then she was gone. But the sense of fulfillment, of saving a tiny life remained. Is there anything more important in this world?

*Later he researched to identify the bird as a gray and brown Stonechat, a member of the Thrush family.

SAY SOMETHING, (I'm giving up on you) by A Great Big World, 2013. The song lingers on its question and to me seems hopeful. In the end he doesn't give up. Neither will you.