by Editor Wicher Bos 
Published the 2nd of July 2021

This is not only the title of this article but also the title of a poem.

This poem was written by William Henry Davies (1871 –1940); a Welsh poet and writer. Davies spent a significant part of his life as a tramp or hobo, in the United Kingdom and United States, but became one of the most popular poets of his time.

One of the principal themes in his work is observations of the way human condition is reflected in nature. A nice example is the Kingfisher, in this beautiful poem the poet reminds us that every person is uniquely different. Some even see it as an allegory in which the artist (or poet) himself can be seen as the kingfisher.

Similar to earlier articles where I used a poem as a canvas to share the wealth of the 1x.com image-base,
I let you read the entire poem first and then ‘slice by slice’ I added some photos I thought were appropriate.

It was the Rainbow gave thee birth,
And left thee all her lovely hues;
And, as her mother’s name was Tears,
So runs it in my blood to choose
For haunts the lonely pools, and keep
In company with trees that weep.
Go you and, with such glorious hues,
Live with proud peacocks in green parks;

On lawns as smooth as shining glass,
Let every feather show its marks;
Get thee on boughs and clap thy wings
Before the windows of proud kings.
Nay, lovely Bird, thou art not vain;
Thou hast no proud, ambitious mind;
I also love a quiet place
That’s green, away from all mankind;
A lonely pool, and let a tree
Sigh with her bosom over me.

Just take a moment to reflect.  What do you think the poet meant?
Now the gorgeous images, we are a photography community after all.

It was the Rainbow gave thee birth,
And left thee all her lovely hues;

'The Spring Bliss' by Shenshen Dou

'The storm is over' by Franz Schumacher

'jui' by james mahfuz

Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis)' by Stefan Benfer

And, as her mother’s name was Tears,
So runs it in my blood to choose

'Sacred Kingfisher 42' by Kurien Yohannan

'The Law breakers' by Kieran O Mahony

For haunts the lonely pools, and keep
In company with trees that weep.

'Crossing the kingfisher' by Barré Thierry

'Feeding time' by Xavier Ortega

Go you and, with such glorious hues,
Live with proud peacocks in green parks;

'Kingfisher' by yaki zander

'Kingfisher on a branch' by Marketa Zvelebil PhD CrGP

'Indian peafowl' by Dikky Oesin

On lawns as smooth as shining glass,
Let every feather show its marks;

'Fashion show' by Nancy Xu

'Flying in the woods' by Nancy Xu

'Dreams of loneliness' by Alex Malikov

'The Peacock' by Anja Diabaté

Get thee on boughs and clap thy wings
Before the windows of proud kings.

 
'Kingfisher' by David Manusevich

'Angel' Alessandro Rossini

'Up and down' by Petar Sabol

Nay, lovely Bird, thou art not vain;
Thou hast no proud, ambitious mind;

'Grooming' by Andres Miguel Dominguez

'an unusual place' by annie keizer

'Proud like a peacock' by Ben Goossens

I also love a quiet place
That’s green, away from all mankind;

 
'Japanese Tree' by Javier de la Torre

'Green World' by Takeshi Mitamura

'Painting of Nature' by hardibudi

A lonely pool, and let a tree
Sigh with her bosom over me.

 
'Silence' by Gerald Macua

'The Kingfisher' by Petar Sabol

'The moment of out off water' by Cheng Chang

'Martin pescatore' by Antonio Grambone

I hope you enjoyed the poem and my selection, let me know in the comments if you found another match or perhaps an even better image to highlight the ideas the poem gave you.

Should you want to explore more poems of W.H. Davies, here is a link to his work:
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.235090

 
As always,
Wicher