Cuckoo Song

Image by Kev from Pixabay

Twice in the last month I have heard cuckoos. I live near the Kent countryside, and not far from me is the lovely Bough Beech reservoir. There used to be a nature reserve here but it closed some years ago – maybe because of the pandemic, I can’t remember. But the area still attracts many birdwatchers: the reservoir and surrounding woods are a sanctuary for birdlife. On the evening of Pentecost Sunday, I drove out to the reservoir, where I heard four cuckoos calling – they also seemed to be fighting with each other, presumably over any female cuckoo who happened to be in the vicinity. And then last Sunday I did the same thing, arriving at Bough Beech about an hour before sunset. There was nobody else around. Bliss! I watched a swan and her four cygnets gliding calmly over the still waters. The woods rang with birdsong – blackbirds, thrushes, chaffinches, chiff-chaffs, and the extraordinary call of the Little Egret, an exquisite bird which sounds rather like Donald Duck having an argument underwater. Chevrons of Canada geese circled over the reservoir and flew above my head, constantly calling. The sky slowly turned pale gold and blush pink. And then once again I heard the magical call of the cuckoos, two of them, echoing in the woods and over the lake.

It was one of those moments we drink up as writers, being ‘surprised by joy’, as CS Lewis called such moments. A contemplative moment, breathing in the beauty and peace of the world.

In the timeless words of the ancient 'Cuckoo Song':

Sumer is icumen in
Lhude sing cuccu
Groweþ sed
and bloweþ med
and springþ þe wde nu
Sing cuccu!

(That’s Middle English. You can look up the translation on Wikipedia, but it’s quite easy to interpret.)

• What has ‘surprised you by joy’ recently as a writer? We often carry our notebooks or tablets or iPads around, waiting for such moments to inspire us.

• Where recently have you sensed God’s presence with you as you’ve been writing?

• What moments of peace, harmony and tranquillity has the Holy Spirit used to bless you – and then blessed others, through your words?

• Ask the gracious Spirit of God for such moments …

I’m an Anglican lay minister and Administrator for the education and learning office of the United Reformed Church. I wrote a devotional for the anthology Light for the Writer’s Soul, published by Media Associates International, and my short story ‘Magnificat’ appears in the ACW anthology Merry Christmas Everyone.