Under the eye of the sky after the rain, on the power lines across the river, in the morning sunshine and the evening smoke shrouded in front of the house, the swallow's figure has been with the cool weather and gradually hidden and disappeared, until next year, the willow branches spitting buds will return.
The swallows' wings are sharp and long, like a pair of sharp scissors, crossed at the tail, and they always keep interlacing and cutting when they are running high and low, as if they want to cut down the colorful clouds to warm up the world's poor, and cut down the harvested grains to satiate the thousands of families. Swallow dexterity, a body, like a flying goddess, dancing with the wind when floating, riding on the wind swinging shadowless swing; body a slant, like a wave fairy, skimming across the water when slippery, with buoyancy to draw a wonderful ripples. Swallows are the embodiment of heavenly fairies, swallows are examples of hard work, where there are swallows where there is happiness and good fortune.
The swallow is a weather observation post, with a keen sense of wind, frost, rain and snow. Flying low before the rain is a way to remind people to save for a rainy day, and flying high after the rain is a way to inform people of clear skies. Swallows are also the natural enemy of pests, the natural insect-eating beak and grasping feet are very chic, the beak is short and wide, the claws are short and sharp, and have the ability to eat all the pests that can be eaten under the sun. It is said that a swallow has to eat more than 800,000 insects a year and has a good appetite. The nests of swallows are also built with their mouths. The swallows bond the mud and grass stems with their saliva, and then spread them with soft weeds, feathers, flannel and some artemisia leaves, and then they become a warm home. Swallows murmur under the eaves, creating a warmth of home, a peaceful and tranquil atmosphere. Bai Juyi depicts the mother swallow raising the baby swallow full of deep compassion, that "thirty days of hard work, the mother thin chick is getting fat. Muttering words, one by one, brush the sweater." The word love, sentence love, all make people miss the greatness of a loving mother.
The swallows are fond of the old, as long as you welcome them to build a nest in front of the hall, nesting under the eaves, they do not care if you are a prince or common people, generations will be attached to the former East the former nest, even if they fly to the sky, but also will not lose their way. The swallows that return year after year always give people a sense of déjà vu. Be careful, don't scare them, they are your own old swallows! Legend has it that a nest of swallows guarded the door of a house for the proprietor who was out of town, and even pecked out the eyes of the gentleman on the beam. It's a great honor for the kind-hearted swallows to be able to perform such a courageous feat.
The swallows are devoted to their partners, and they fly and stay together from dawn to dusk. Once widowed, no matter how old they are, the ones left behind are willing to be lonely swallows forever. "In the past, no spouse to go, this year is still alone to return. The old man's grace is heavy, not again double flight." Nowadays, I read Jin's "Lonely Swallow Poem" in a realistic state of mind, and I still weep with emotion for the lonely swallow flying alone. Who knows that love and righteousness are priceless, and the loyalty of the swallow is a commentary. Swallows are also known for their generosity and kindness. Whenever the swallows return to their hometown, they will first circle around the house a few times to see what is going on, hovering in front of their old nests for a long time to see if there are any other birds lingering in their own homes, and confirming that they will not disturb the other birds before entering the house with peace of mind. Sometimes, as expected, they find that their home has been borrowed by sparrows, and they are still incubating eggs in their nest. This pair of swallows immediately and quietly fly away, rather than treat themselves, near a tree, or a piece of bamboo forest, or even a pile of grass, the wind and sleep without disturbing the "guest". When the little sparrows grow up and fly away, the swallows will move back to their old nests, and of course they will have to do it all over again, brushing the walls with mud and laying down the grass to make their nests, dressing up their old home into a new one, and then moving in head to head in the warmth of their "holes".
There are many kinds of birds in the world, but many of them are on the verge of extinction. The swallows, on the other hand, are still in the ascendant, and there are more of them every year, and they have a tendency to keep on growing. I remember one day at dusk, in the Daba Mountains over the East River, more than a dozen wires densely packed with tens of thousands of swallows, attracting people along both sides of the river to go and watch. A bird bridge flying in the sky, a bird bridge reflected in the water, this spectacle is the swallows in the indication of their joy in the bar.
The philosophers once argued that only creatures adapted to their environment can flourish, and that swallows are not the fittest. There is also another logic in human beings, which is that the rarer something is, the more precious it is, such as swallows, a common life form, it is not rare, and it is easy to ignore. Swallows are not like the legend, not wutong not perch, not manna not drink, they are not so noble. On the contrary, the swallows are humble, they go out and come back at night, take the insects flying in the air as their staple food, take the water of the gushing river as their drink, just like millions of ordinary people, embracing life in the ordinary days, bidding farewell to the stars and the moon and ushering in the sun.
Summer to the north, winter to the south, swallows go back and forth between the sky and the south and the north, with the change of the years and the turn of the wheel. In every big migration, the swallows fly over thousands of waters and pass by thousands of households, protecting the vast farmland and forests with their weak bodies, spreading happiness and joy on every inch of land they fly over. Swallows come and go, full of beautiful mountains and rivers, absorbing the spirit of heaven and earth, it is more and more light and agile, vibrant. Swallows come and go, wind and clouds, thunder and lightning, poisonous snakes and beasts, all the dangers and sufferings have been over, what is there to be intolerant of? The more the swallow walks on the road of survival, the wider it is and the more it lives, the more nourished it is.
The hometown is originally unique, but the swallow always keeps more than two old homes. Perhaps, some people will say that this is a sign of the swallow's cowardice, hiding far away when it sees snow and ice in the cold winter, not daring to rise up and fight. I don't know if the people who hold this view are also fleeing far away from earthquakes, hurricanes and volcanic floods. If so, why should they bother with the little swallow? The little swallow has no extraordinary ability to change the sky and the earth, except to obey nature. A swallow is a swallow, not an eagle. The swallow, in the face of the harsh nature, always travels thousands of miles, without any effort, and travels to and from the two warm homelands.
There is no doubt that the swallow is a loyal friend of mankind, and mankind treats the swallow with favor. Even in the years of famine, people ate wild vegetables and leaves, but I never heard of anyone going to prey on swallows, and hunters never shot at swallows. Humans treat swallows as their own family members, the rise and fall of the family, but also to borrow the swallows to express their feelings. So, the swallows are able to live on like this.
The little, little, little swallow,
flying over the hedge,
with black eyes and a red neck,
spreading its love every spring,
crowing in the spring mud,
eeping, eeping, eeping, eeping, eeping.
The little swallows,
One, two, three, four,
Happy to be back in their hometown,
Returning to the countryside to bring the most beautiful flowers,
Returning to the city to gather the happiness,
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
The little swallows,
five, six, seven, eight,
flying to the sky and the earth with ease,
flying to you with sweetness and joy,
flying to me to be with you forever.