Tones of Happiness – for National Robin Day

“National Robin Day is an annual nationwide event raising awareness of small birds and other wildlife in winter and how we can help them through this tough time of year...The cold winter months are especially tough for animals; as temperatures drop and food becomes scarce, wildlife such as garden birds need a little extra help.” Visit https://www.nationalrobinday.co.uk/ to find out more!

~

A robin sang

from the branches of a winter tree

~

His belly was as bright as the day

his breast red as the sunset

~

Gracing my winter spirit

with tones of happiness.

~

Robin, Shrewsbury, Autumn 2021

New Day, New Hope

~

Always

Move on

.

From the powers

Of the past

.                                                 

That draw you

Ever backwards

.

The sun rises

On a day of new hope

.

And today’s

Combination

.

Of creatures

Living and being

.

Will never recur

In time’s memory

.

So turn your mind

And your inner eye

.

And always move on

This way.

~

The Wrekin at dawn, October 2021

Nature’s Powerful Presences

Recently I was walkingin on The Lawley in Shropshire, and we paused to admire the Highland cattle in an adjacent field.

They were handsome, strong, charismatic even!

I think Aelbert Cuyp must also have found cattle fascinating in this way, in this painting I recently came across.

They dominate this painting by him, as they do many others by him. There are as much a part of human life as the windmills and the church, the sunlight and the sky.

Human life is moved to the sidelines and into the background. For the time we spend gazing at this beautiful painting, we are absorbed by animals, the creaturely world of the cattle.

Do you ever feel that, looking at cows, at sheep, at birds, at a pet cat or dog? They have a fascinating, separate existence from us – related to our existence, and yet so different!

Sheep on Wilderley Hill, with The Wrekin in the background, Shropshire, October 2021

In Cuyp’s painting, their existence is monumental. They even seem to have something of a sacred meaning for him, as they do in some other cultures. They are there, and it feels as though we are privileged for a while to be in their presence, a presence which is material, dignified and powerful.

Makes you think, the next time you walk past a field of cattle or sheep!