Heroes Not Zombies

When I was a young boy sometimes, at the weekend, we’d take a trip, my family and me. We would drive up towards the River Tay where it widened, as a mouth might open wide, as eyes that would grow as big as saucers, when it saw the vast, dark, cold North Sea, just ahead.

We’d find a beach, a particular beach, another enthusiast had confided to us, and walk carefully, gathering small pieces of agate. From what I remember some were easy to spot, glowing already like jewels in grey gravel, but others didn’t look much at all until you took them home and put them in the little rock tumbler my dad had set up in the garage. I can’t remember how long he ran the motor but I’m pretty sure it was a long time, but worth waiting for, because when he opened the cylinder up, there would be some of the most beautiful, intricately painted (or so it seemed) jewels, transformed from something ordinary into something extraordinary.

I’m sure those experiences nurtured my sense of wonder, convinced me that there was beauty to be found, magical, astonishing beauty to be found all around us.

Maybe those experiences also taught me that even what might seem dull or uninteresting at first glance could reveal a unique and specific beauty within.

This photo isn’t of those stones I found as a child, but one I took in Capetown a few years ago, when my friends took me to a “scratch pad”, where you could rummage around over a few square metres of pebbles and collect the ones you wanted, filling the empty jar you paid for at the entrance.

That much later activity reminded me of the first one, noticing both children and adults excited by what they found, holding stones up to the light, calling to each other to “come and see this one”.

All of this came back to me as I was browsing a collection of Mary Oliver poems, “Blue Horses”, where she has two poems about stones, both of which reminded me just how fascinating and beautiful both stones, and the every day, can be.

The poems were “Watering the stones” and “Do stones feel?” You’ll be able to find them both if you go looking for them….