God used the element of faith to construct the earth and its inhabitants. Whatever he said it came to pass then dropped these elements in us to say whatever we want to also come to pass but sin and disbelieve has murdered the faith in us and need to be ressurected by purity and strong will power.

I love the freedom of my wings. I love the empty space above the ground. I rejoice in my freedom. Freedom is my religion. Peace is my God. Love is my worship.

I pray to the birds because they remind me of what I love rather than what I fear. And at the end of my prayers they teach me how to listen.

I paid the taxi driver got out with my suitcase surveyed my surroundings and just as I was turning to ask the driver something or get back into the taxi and return forthwith to Chilln and then to Santiago it sped off without warning as if the somewhat ominous solitude of the place had unleashed atavistic fears in the drivers mind. For a moment I too was afraid. I must have been a sorry sight standing there helplessly with my suitcase from the seminary holding a copy of Farewells Anthology in one hand. Some birds flew out from behind a clump of trees. They seemed to be screaming the name of that forsaken village Querqun but they also seemed to be enquiring who quin quin quin. I said a hasty prayer and headed for a wooden bench there to recover a composure more in keeping with what I was or what at the time I considered myself to be. Our Lady do not abandon your servant I murmured while the black birds about twenty-five centimetres in length cried quin quin quin. Our Lady of Lourdes do not abandon your poor priest I murmured while other birds about ten centimetres long brown in colour or brownish rather with white breasts called out but not as loudly quin quin quin Our Lady of Suffering Our Lady of Insight Our Lady of Poetry do not leave your devoted subject at the mercy of the elements I murmured while several tiny birds magenta black fuchsia yellow and blue in colour wailed quin quin quin at which point a cold wind sprang up suddenly chilling me to the bone.

In my dream I was a seal and I made love to a seagull. Then I got eaten by a shark because thats just the way life is. Some fish gets jealous over a bird and decides to chomp down on his competition. It happens all the time in the real world.

We ate the birds. We ate them. We wanted their songs to flow up through our throats and burst out of our mouths and so we ate them. We wanted their feathers to bud from our flesh. We wanted their wings we wanted to fly as they did soar freely among the treetops and the clouds and so we ate them. We speared them we clubbed them we tangled their feet in glue we netted them we spitted them we threw them onto hot coals and all for love because we loved them. We wanted to be one with them. We wanted to hatch out of clean smooth beautiful eggs as they did back when we were young and agile and innocent of cause and effect we did not want the mess of being born and so we crammed the birds into our gullets feathers and all but it was no use we couldnt sing not effortlessly as they do we cant fly not without smoke and metal and as for the eggs we dont stand a chance. Were mired in gravity were earthbound. Were ankle-deep in blood and all because we ate the birds we ate them a long time ago when we still had the power to say no.