In this golden moment
The tintinnabulation of the bells of Abdij van Park
Echoes around the locked-down evening quiet
Of the shallow Dyle (Dayhla) valley and Heverlee.
A single pigeon passes purposefully overhead–
A pointed-golden-ellipse with whistling-wings–
As a solitary duck, with a drawn-out “Quaaarck!”,
Flies fast and straight toward the bells,
Hurrying to join family at the lake before nightfall,
And the birds in the garden wish each other Goedenavond
And settle in for the night.
Ahhh… the soul-filling stillness of these golden moments!
Soon these trees will morph, grow back their clothes
Cover their bare-armed deciduous branches against the heat of longer days
And block the path of this golden light behind a wall of deepening, shaded colour.
But for now, each naked branch,
Each leaf, each flower, each bud, each tree, each forming nest
Is silhouetted against the creamy blue sky,
Crisply.
And just before nightfall,
Just before it sinks behind the shadowed spire of Sint Lambertus
The slowly setting orange orb shines through these thickening branches like a golden spotlight,
As we wait
In this windless still point
For the rising Easter moon.
Neil Davidson
Heverlee, Leuven, Belgium
8 April 2020