Dream for Jack Collom

HR Hegnauer

July 3, 2017

I was sitting on the porch when a little chick-a-dee flew-up and gave me a fleck of jade stone. Naturally, I knew this was an invitation and I knew where to go, and so I went. When I got there, I entered through the side yard. The sunflowers where taller than me, and the sage was in its full lavender-colored bloom. I continued into Jenny’s beautiful garden yard, and then realized that I was at Jack’s bird memorial.

Jack looked beautiful laying there in the yard. He was wrapped in white linens, and the birds had adorned him with flowers, feathers, and little bits of string and grasses. His grey hair looked like fluffy feathery plumes in the sunlight. He laid on his back in the middle of the garden atop a long and narrow strip of jade. And then atop his body was a similar jade stone. Long and slender — maybe 2 or 3 inches wide at most and stretching from his third eye down to his pelvis. Atop the jade on Jack, perched dozens of colorful tiny birds. There was a goldfinch, a little mountain bluebird, a chick-a-dee, a speckled flicker, and many others.

All was a flutter of feathers and chirps. There were hundreds of different types of birds gathering for him, maybe thousands — I couldn’t count so many. I recognized some of Jack’s Naropa friends here: Anne, Reed, Bobbie, Anselm. There were many others I didn’t know, and we had each been invited by birds.

Although I didn’t understand any bird languages, I could tell that the chirping was coming into focus now. The ceremony was beginning. The chirps began to sound like mantras — repeating in melodic waves and echoing from all areas of the garden. A few dozen hummingbirds fluttered past. One at a time, birds of all species delivered flower petals to his body. Another chick-a-dee rested on his forehead and repeated it’s dee-dee, dee-dee call. 

Then one at a time, each human went up to Jack and whispered a little chirp of their own to him. When it was my turn, I was nervous because I didn’t know any bird languages, but when I approached Jack, I whispered little chirps which came innately from a place inside of me I do not know.