i am a feather on the wind

I saw a little girl running around in the park with a feather in her hair. It was pale grey and black, a Seagull's wing feather perhaps? The girl's Mother had tucked the feather into the elastic band that held her ponytail in place. It was upside down, quill end skyward. That's what struck me, the perfectly casual rightness of it being the wrong way up. What struck me also was the pleasing lack of regard for cleanliness on the Mother's part. A bird feather in her daughter's hair and not an anti-bacterial wipe in sight. There is probably a Health and Safety ruling against this, at the very least Social Services would want to poke their nose in. What I most liked about the scene is that it spoke of a carefree childhood, both the little girl's now and the Mother's in memory.

My Sister found this hawk feather. I say hawk feather because she thinks it might have come from some kind of raptor, although as I post the picture now it occurs to me it might have come from a pheasant or some kind of game bird like that. Either way, it's a beautiful feather, and one that anyone would pick up if they saw it on the ground. I imagine Robin Hood had one like it in his hat, I can certainly picgure Errol Flynn sporting one when he played the outlaw. Peter Pan wore a feather in his hat too didn't he? A feather in your cap is a euphemism for a great achievement isn't it? 'That promotion is a real feather in your cap.' It tells us, I think, the value that was placed on feathers in times past, and that flying high was something to be aspired to. But what about in a future where birds are to be avoided at all costs, a future where they are considered a scourge? People would surely avoid this feather then, give it a wide berth if they saw it on the ground. It would be an object to be feared. No mother would casually clip it into her daughter's hair. It would represent the very antithisis of a carefree childhood.

Photo is the author's own