Oh, Cardinalidae

“Well now, this here’s a song about a little red bird that don’t know he’s just a bird… and the man who wishes he could trade places with him.”

I was sittin’ on a rust-red Ford out back of the barn,

Coffee gone cold and my heart half gone,

When a flash of fire lit up the cedar tree,

A cardinal cockin’ his head, just starin’ at me.

He didn’t owe the bank, didn’t owe no man,

Didn’t carry the weight of a five-year plan.

He just sang what he felt from a thorn-tangled limb—

Lord, I reckon that bird was freer than him.

Oh, Cardinalidae, little red refrain,

You wear your heartbreak brighter than the pain.

You don’t punch no clock, you don’t count no cost,

You just love through the winter and sing what you lost.

If I had me them wings and a heart that true,

I’d light on her windowsill and do what you do—

Sing “cheer-cheer-cheer, pretty-pretty-pretty” through the rain,

Oh, Cardinalidae, teach me that song again.

She left in December with a suitcase and a lie,

Said “I can’t breathe here,” and I let her fly.

Snow kept on fallin’, the woodstove kept on burnin’,

But nothin’ kept warm the place she stopped returnin’.

That cardinal stayed all winter, red against the white,

Singin’ like tomorrow was comin’ back all right.

I’d whisper through the screen door, “Boy, how do you do it?

How do you keep that color when the whole world’s gone through it?”

Oh, Cardinalidae, little red refrain,

You wear your heartbreak brighter than the pain.

Folks say you’re just a bird, but I understand—

You mate for life, same as a hard-luck man.

You don’t write no letters, you don’t beg her to stay,

You just show up every mornin’ and sing anyway.

“Cheer-cheer-cheer, pretty-pretty-pretty” through the rain,

Oh, Cardinalidae, teach me that song again.

Spring came creepin’ like a prodigal son,

Brought dogwoods bloomin’ and a brand-new one—

A little gray female on the same old limb,

And that redbird sang like he’d never lost a thing.

I stood there barefoot in the morning dew,

Realizin’ what the good Lord already knew:

Some hearts keep lovin’ long after love is gone,

And some just find a new branch and keep singin’ on.

So here’s to you, Cardinalidae, my preacher in red,

You taught this ol’ boy how to get out of bed.

I still miss her somethin’ fierce, but I’m learnin’ to be

A little more like you and a little less like me.

Now every dawn I whistle what you taught me then—

“Cheer-cheer-cheer, pretty-pretty-pretty” born again.

Yeah, the hurt don’t leave, but the song remains…

Thank you, little cardinal.

Thank you, Cardinalidae.