.
A mistle thrush was singing
As if all the world were ringing
With the hopes of every soul
.
The year was at its ending
But the light was growing, mending
Darkness which could never wrestle ultimate control.
.

Words and Thoughts, for Life
.
A mistle thrush was singing
As if all the world were ringing
With the hopes of every soul
.
The year was at its ending
But the light was growing, mending
Darkness which could never wrestle ultimate control.
.

No prayers were said there
but a stilling of the heart’s grinding
that was peace enough
~
We walked on discovering
at every turn a new vision
of unimagined grandeur
each differently lovelier than before
~
Perhaps heaven will be like this
a walk across the moor
on an everlasting day.
~
Photograph – Hooney Tor, Dartmoor, Devon, UK, December 2024

What a mystery
It is to exist
~
Life passing
Like a surprising mist
~
Rising over the hills
Revealing sights
~
More wonderful
More beautiful still.
~
A bullfinch perched
Right outside my window
~
They are so shy
This was a notable occurring
~
And my heart lifted
Just to watch him for a moment
~
With his bright red body
And rich black head
~
These unplanned revelations
The greatest part of my learning.
~
Image – A fleeting glimpse of a bullfinch, Morchard Bishop, December 2024

A Moment to Glide
A moment to glide
while the wind’s favourable
and the air is free
~
Like joy, sensation,
spontaneity.
~
Image: Red Kite over The Stiperstones, Shropshire

This egret
And these Devon hills
~
And the view across
The estuary
~
Light flooding like the tide
From oceans of sky
~
The moment of beauty
Is a mystery.
~
Photograph: Egret at Topsham, Devon – November 2024

The buzzard flying away
Turning to look at me
~
Behind him
The infinite blue sky
~
As if in his freedom
He had greater depths than me
~
In his affinity
With what is on high.
~
Photograph – buzzard, Morchard Bishop, Devon, December 2024

Avocets on the estuary
The sheer sparkle of the sun
On black and white feathers
Proclaiming the beauty
Of flocking together.

There’s a new kind of silence
On the Lawley this morning
~
An inner kind of silence
On the Lawley this morning
~
As if a new kind of consciousness
Was slowly dawning
~
That has suffered and died
And has risen again
~
Here on the Lawley
This morning.
~
Photograph shows views from the Lawley

The breeze brings blessing
From hills and from sky
~
As if inspiration
Were the true vocation
~
Of the soul
Seeking harmony.
~
The photograph shows Corndon Hill above the heather of The Stiperstones, Shropshire.