A Song of Earth

When the birds fell silent

Today’s random word is insidious.

Once in a valley between mountains, villagers told seasons by bird sounds.

Summer evening air was filled with whistles and trills.

In autumn, medleys of mimicry birds rang from trees.

On winter mornings, villagers awoke to drumming sounds echoing over fresh snow.

In spring, they paused to listen to intricate duets of mated birds.

In this way, they lived for generations. Then greedy tycoons strip-mined the mountains, beginning a cycle of insidious pollution.

The birds detected it first and stayed away. The devastated villagers, grieving their absence, fought to reclaim the land.

The moral? “Where birds live, hope abides.”