The Harpstrings Of Dee Poem by John Berry

The Harpstrings Of Dee



The Dee here mentioned is the river which flows out of North Wales in a large curve and travels, via Chester to the sea into Liverpool Bay. For many years it has caused severe problems for traffic from the North into North Wales, all of which had to cross it by a small blue-painted bridge at Queensferry. A new bridge has been built which bypasses the old, with fine approach roads. Traffic is now speeded up much to the relief of all road users. But there is more to this than convenience; it is a bridge of great beauty with suspended roadway each side of an inverted Y tower giving the appearance of an enormous harp. Given that this is a major entry point into Wales, that the national instrument of Wales is the Harp, and Wales’ well deserved reputation as a musical nation, it seemed to me that the ‘Welsh Harp Bridge’ had to be its name – but no. Some Civil Servant without a shred of imagination called it ‘The Flint Bridge’.

Here beside the Dee, separating Welsh hills and Wirral countryside
See the sparkle of air-frost spangle sparse-clad winter trees;
Skeins of geese stretch, arrow-heading across a night sky, deep and wide;
Silhouettes across a silver, misted moon, fanned by breeze
Of speeding, flight-inducing power; – it is the hour
To swoop, to wade, to roost and, with homing clamour, seize
Loneliness, peace and estuary calm of places yet unspoiled,
Where rivers penetrate ancient mudflats, to meet seas
Whose crustacean life charges tidal reaches’ coils
For waders, who form no arrowheads across the moon
Or fan frosty mist-drifts in winter’s jewelled sky,
But scurry, dipping and bobbing their heads
In time with the lapping, ceaseless tune
Of breeze-riffled waters and grasses bending to the crooning wind’s cry.

Now, it is deep night, redolent with fragrances that only night brings;
All is silent, save for sounds of reeded river breathing, seething,
Humming, through detritus of an estuary’s cold-taut harp strings,
Grasses, masts, ropes and other several items of man’s leaving.

(John L. Berry.15th December 2008.)

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Stuart Murray 01 September 2021

Would like to discuss this poem with the author - I am with a local organisation looking at the Tidal Dee

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