Thoreau's Reproach

'I reproach myself because I have regarded with indifference the passage of the birds; I have thought them no better than I' (Henry David Thoreau, 31 March 1852). 
As I look out of my window here on Arran, the daily congregation of sparrows, robins, goldfinches, great tits, blue tits, greenfinches, and wagtails ebbs and flows around the bird feeders, while a pair of collared doves pick seeds that are dropped from the ground. In the early morning, deer come out the forest to graze in the field behind the house. Both birds and deer are indifferent to the passage of human woes and follies.