Down to the River

Bruce Springsteen "Down to the River" has echoed around this week - not the original song but an acoustic version by Welsh folk singer Martyn Joseph.  Lovely voice, good album, slightly depressing but haunting.  So today's walk was a cover version too - my friend Phyl saw a kingfisher yesterday down on the river, near the walk alongside the back of Millbrook Lane.  I thought I'd go see if I was as fortunate.  Not a chance - there were a lot of gnats hovering over the surface, a gentle chirping, warbling chorus of bird song,  the first fox gloves of the year, and a pheasant on a fence at full camera lens stretch and later, a lot of bunting and charming chalk drawings!

There's a beautiful prayer/poem in the book "Watching for the Kingfisher" by Ann Lewin.  For me it perfectly describes what Simon Barnes calls the "bloody hell Kingfisher" moment when you are lucky enough to see that flash arrow of brilliant blue - my last one was on a river in the Wye Valley. But also definitely prayer - "nothing much happens" but you put yourself in a place where something might. So here's the full version: From Watching the Kingfisher - Poems and Prayers

Disclosure

Prayer is like watching for the
Kingfisher. All you can do is
Be where he is likely to appear, and
Wait.
Often, nothing much happens;
There is space, silence and
Expectancy.
No visible sign, only the
Knowledge that he's been there,
And may come again.
Seeing or not seeing cease to matter,
You have been prepared.
But sometimes, when you've almost
Stopped expecting it,
A flash of brightness
Gives encouragement.