a partner church in the WOLDSBURN benefice
CHURCH AT KIRKBURN
MARCH 2006
http://www.churchatkirkburn.org.uk/page30..html psm/jean (p1) archived 27/07/06
The women cutting back the frost browned plants in her garden, straightens, stretches, and stands still, listening to the morning quiet, balm after a busy week.
Gradually she becomes aware of birdsong, a chattering, a clamouring – how could she have not heard it earlier? She hears beneath the birdsong an age-
A neighbour is washing his car, and the water runs down the road, dancing and shimmering, and a car passes, swishing loudly through the water. Traffic on the main road adds a background hum, a blanket of sound cocooning the village.
A dog barks its welcome, and its owner waves, wishes a cheery ‘good morning’. Three boys walk by, neighbours, friends, acting out the moves from a game they’ve been playing, lost in their own world, oblivious. Laughing, they go into a house, and the door slams behind them.
She hums the hymn she just heard, and in the house, her husband is playing a guitar, and the occasional note reaches her, somehow harmonising with her song.
From across the road comes the sound of a piano playing jazz.
Wood pigeons coo, a hypnotic bass, reverberating from the trees. A flash of red, and a robin lands on a branch, and from its tiny throat a perfect song soars to the heavens, completing the morning orchestra.
She turns back to her garden, and, lifting more leaves, sees the hard green tips of bulbs pushing spring a step nearer. She smiles.
Jean Illingworth
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