Alun

River Guardians appear in Robert Macfarlane’s book , ‘Is A River Alive?’

I watch the ripples as I drink my coffee by The River Alun which streams past my workshop, coming very close to the barn at times. I see the inside of the tree through its reflection. Each day I see the leaf buds growing and I listen to the tiny waterfall upstream. Sometimes there’s a firecrest or goldfinches, buzzards. Sometimes a moorhen launches clumsily out of the water when she hears my footsteps. It’s not a dramatic view but it harbours a super abundance of life. There is so much to see! Just being present and still there softens any hard edges I might have and steers me to calmness as I watch it flow. Rivers need our protection. A river is a being in itself which has a right to be, just as we have human rights. This should be law world wide.