Category: Uncategorized

My Heart Leaps Up…

“My heart leaps up when I behold

A rainbow in the sky:

So was it when my life began;

So is it now I am a man…”

Wordsworth

It’s not a very scientific explanation of a rainbow but Wordsworth’s lines have a magic of their own.

They remind me of my connection with the world. That grey skies not only have silver linings but also that out of nowhere a beautiful rainbow can suddenly appear.

It so happened on this blustery walk in Shropshire, I was also blessed by a flock of golden plover, who performed an amazing aerial dance over the fields:

Does your heart leap up when you behold a rainbow in the sky?

You can read Wordsworth’s full poem (it’s quite short!) here.

Rainbow over The Wrekin, October 2021

Brother Sun

St. Francis of Assisi talked about “Brother Sun”. As we passed the Autumn Equinox recently in the UK, sunrises and sunsets have become very visible for us all, and I’ve enjoyed recording and posting about some stunning sunrises, in particular, in September 2021.

“Brother Sun” has amazed me painted the sky such beautiful colours, and accompanied me on my daily commute – apart from the recent days of cloud and rain!

Don’t forget to acknowledge the light of Brother Sun the next time you see him!

~

Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures,

especially through my lord Brother Sun,

who brings the day;

and you give light through him.

And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendour!

Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.

St. Francis of Assisi – ‘Canticle of the Sun’
Sunrise over Wroxeter Roman City, Shropshire, September 2021

Grateful, Take the Good I Find…

I came across these lines recently by the American poet John Greenleaf Whittier:

“Grateful take the good I find

The best of now and here.”

It seemed such good advice – to make the most of what is already around us, what is already within our power to do.

Surrounded by nature in Shropshire, I am very grateful for the blessings of the natural world. Espexially for the beauty of sunrises and sunsets this time of year – the images that accompany this post are of The Wrekin, taken during at dawn in September 2021.

What do you have to be grateful for today?

The Windhover

Gerard Manley Hopkins describes a kestrel (also known as a “windhover”) so well…

“…in his riding
    Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
    As a skate’s heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
    Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird, – the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!”

from ‘The Windhover’

This kestrel was hunting around the quarry in Bayston Hill, just outside Shrewsbury in Shropshire, UK, living its own life of wildness and survival.

My feet were firmly fixed to the earth; the kestrel was “striding high” in the air. And my “heart in hiding” also “stirred for a bird”.

You can read the full, amazing poem here.

~

Heaven in a Wild Flower

William Blake wrote that he saw “heaven in a wild flower“. Even in September there are still many beautiful wild flowers around in Shropshire. And maybe they can transport us to another place?

“To see a World in a Grain of Sand

And Heaven in a Wild Flower

Hold Infinity in the palm of your Hand

And Eternity in an hour”

William Blake, ‘Auguries of Innocence”

“Heaven in a wild flower”