How to be Here

by Tania Hershman

Hover
over exactly that spot on the river half-
way between the locks, and
listen.
After an hour, century
or minute
land
on this bank
wait
in long grasses, and
inhale.
When you are grown strong and joyous, fed
on all the birds can bring you –
blackberries, meadowsweet –
dream
yourself a gate. On tiptoe
unwind
and open, unwind and
drift
still. Here, among the flooding
rush and wonder:
fill.

An impromptu lunchtime drink with a friend at my favourite riverside pub today, and as it was yet another belated birthday celebration it just had to be Prosecco! On the riverbank, I came across this poem, commissioned by the Bristol Festival of Nature for its poetry trail. The poet’s commission was to write a nature poem inspired by a particular location on the Bristol-Bath Nature Trail, but I think the words equally describe my experience of sitting by the river on a sunny Summer’s day, sipping chilled Prosecco…

If you would like to listen to Tania read the poem herself, here’s a link.