The adventure
I made this drawing while waiting with the car broken down on the side of the road, somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Just at that moment when I began to feel alone and unprotected and with that thought that asked me why I had left home.
When I began to feel more lost than usual among my thoughts, I suddenly saw a bird that came to rest on a wire.
And then I sat next to my backpack and took out my moleskine, a pencil and a pen and began to draw. And to think about quieter things until the mechanic arrived.
This time I do not want to delve into the process of my drawing.
This time I think I care more about the theme, the meaning, what it symbolizes.
The swallows, and the sparrows are different birds but more or less have come to symbolize the same things.
For the sailors at some time, they were a symbol of the miles traveled, and they also believed that if they were shipwrecked the swallows would rescue their bodies to take them to the mainland, because for them, before the existence of modern instruments, encountering some swallow meant that they had reached land, so it has always been a symbol of hope.
Some consider them also a symbol of freedom and that is why some prisoners get a tattoo of these birds when they get it.
For more than one traveler, these birds mean the hope of returning home.
It is said that already in ancient Egypt it was believed that these birds kept the soul of the dying.
There are legends that tell that it is these same birds that accompany the souls between one world and another when we are born and when we die.
But beyond belief, swallows symbolize faith, hope and love. Since year after year we are witnesses of his long pilgrimage and his arrival and his departure always mark a special moment in the year. And above all, for their fidelity. Once the swallows find a pair, they remain together until death.
Personally, I have always believed that no matter how far away they are, they are never lost. They know where they are going and they will always return to where they belong.
Here my tribute to such beautiful creatures.
Hope you like it
With birdie love
-Monk