David, my partner and an accomplished artist, asked if I might write some lines to go with a painting of his, to celebrate the magnificence of Red Kites. An awe-inspiring bird we often catch sight of them hugely hovering on the York Road, not far from Thorner,on our way out of Leeds to the East Coast.
Kites
If you were near enough you might hear
Wind through feathers, the lightest breath,
Feel the strong beating heart, know the scouring eye
Which seeks signs of life, stillness of death.
We are feet on ground, our vision narrow,
Our world is a road through towns and fields
We cannot see and swoop, a speeding arrow,
We are bound by our nature to smaller yields.
But sometimes the world seems large, landscape immense,
Our understanding grows in the fire of creation
We see it all through a different lens
And I think of you in my inspiration.
This larger sweep, longer dizzying view,
An all-seeing I thought only gods might know.
James Nash © 2025
