Under the great umbrella of a beech tree, the river shillies around rocks

while they resist the force of the current. Some are boulders, sturdy, unyielding,

others are dry, moss-covered, but all are as damp as the slip-grey sky.

Around me the air sings, the wind carries its song in a lullaby.

I rest at the feet of the great trunk – all its years of growth, pock-marked

by the seasons, challenged by lichen and other extraordinary growths.

Above, the leaves criss-cross each other, not quite touching, allowing space

for the air to filter, opening a multitude of crevices for the sky to enter.

Air, water, leaf, all meet at a place that is neither surface nor place, unowned by all.

A rope hangs from a branch, knotted at the end, slung from a strong limb, ready

to swing across the river in a child’s leap. Ivy graces the rocks on the bank

where the moss-cladding is deep and green and velvet.

Himalayan Balsam sways its sex, opening to the damp air.

On the far bank, the brambles etch their shapes, stretching their thorny feelers.

A moment of sun breaks through the cloud and the colours change; the water

is quick-bright, magnifying the stony bed, catching the tails of ghost-minnows

darting in and out of the shallows.

Leaves, grass, a ricketty fence, all choose new colours from an artist’s pallet.

The water downstream is feather-white as it leaps over the rocks, and an ash tree

waves its flags looking as if it will take-off, each leaf buffeting

one against the other, jostling, vying for a glimpse of the sun.

A tiny black and red winged creature, searches the length of my trouser leg.

My boots crunch on the sprinkling of beechmast on the ground around the tree.

With my back against the trunk of the beech I meld into the roots – my nest

of numbness as my human bones are flesh deep in tree and river and rock.