Hawkish Goat turns into Heron
Heronry
‘Good things come to those who hesitate
And then the heron says
You'll never be alone
And you gotta be patient
Be still
At peace, Yeah’
Antony Szmierek, The Heron, from Decoding the Birdsong
One of the heron’s key attributes – as you will know if you’ve ever spied the motionless blue grey bird in the rushes – is its ability to wait.
I’ve been musing on heron for nearly a week. This is an eternity in terms of the pen failing to flow. TSM (The Sheep Man) has been interrupting my train of thought and dreams. I wondered why …
Aha! If the ‘goat’ were a bird, he would not be a hawk as I’ve always imagined, but a heron. Like many farmers, he has perfected the art of standing still, barely a flicker of an eyelid when someone enters the room. Even the smoke from his cigarette appears to pause until you’ve entered and he deigns to offer a slight nod of the head in greeting.
But this doesn’t stop him quietly looking and assessing when it’s the right moment to strike… with a rapier-like movement. His eye momentarily seems to spark with the orange flame of desire or perhaps spy a target –a pregnant ewe who has managed to roll herself over in the most inaccessible part of the field.
I am comfier with heron’s other attributes which we’re about to discover. But it is heron who brings us to the Circus Ground and The Farm, a home much nearer mum and dad’s and into TSM’s sights. My record of creature encounters marks May 2014 as my first proper heron encounter.
‘If we’re lucky we might see him’ mum says, gendering him – as it seems so often is the way of heron – ‘though I’m well aware the ‘he’ might be a ‘she’. Perhaps it’s the ‘yang’ feature of his self-determination. We’re on a walk by the River Mole on what locals call ‘the back way’ to Molesey.
And there he is! A hunched picture of solitude in the shallow water remaining motionless until he senses we’re edging nearer. Almost disdainfully, he rises, heading up river.
Mum’s delighted but not as much as I am, for to me he is A SURE SIGN I am on the right track, and that the voice which announced ‘the tea party is over’ is urging me to take heed and act. But not without an excessively long wait…
Heron is the somewhat incongruous wader whose form graces the logo of a worldwide dance form called Biodanza.
Biodanza? Next post reveals it's jewel-like facets...
#heron #patience #signs