The world to come

There's a blackbird perched in the branches of the silver birch
Growing from my chambered heart
Singing through the rising dark
Singing of the world to come

Can you hear with the ears of the owl and the otter
Listening, listening
An accordion plays as the day grows hotter
Glistening, glistening
There's a wildwood, starting its march
As a kingfisher flashes over the marsh

Far out to sea there's a strange kind of silence
Gull cry, still sky
A pause in the storm and a lull in the violence
Sun high, fly by
Breathing drops from fast to steady
Time slows down till we're caught in its eddy





A sparkling sort of day, it's been a day about birds - and a bit more. The birds in the garden think it's Spring. The wrens are raucous, the great tits strutting, the magpies amorous, the robins full throated, the herons screeching and Horace the pheasant iridescent in his plummage.


Too nice to be hoicking smelly stuff out of the pond I went for a stroll. The tide was way way out and the sea so enticing it felt like the sort of day you could conjure up something special. I was admiring the old handsome heron when I saw his companion - an otter! I sat on a rock and watched him for some time as he rolled and dived, successful in his fishing. The Irish name is madra uisce - water dog and that fits perfectly. 


Birds were everywhere - I saw egrets brilliant in their whiteness, hooded crows feasting on something in the seaweed, oyster catchers red-legged on the shore line, sentinel cormorants on their rocks. I heard the turnstones before I saw them, listened to the posse of curlews sweep low over the water and may have heard a shy northern diver (loon) make his eerie call to his mate a good few metres away from him.
I met one woman and her two dogs and waved to Zillah as she passed in the mobile library. I intended to do the circuit major but the sea lured me and I returned the same way I'd came.


I've come over all Robert Macfarlane I wish but the opening words are from his collaboration with Johnny Flynn - you can read the full thing and hear the song here - singing of the world to come. That link might conk out mid way but I wanted the full lyrics to be available - here's just the song