FEW sounds are more cheering and comforting than the honking overhead of geese in flight.
At this time of year it’s a reminder that colder weather is on the way – and of the miracle of avian migration when millions of birds converge on the British Isles on their long-haul journeys around the globe.
For bird lovers, it’s a favourite time to visit the estuaries and headlands where the migrating flocks feed and rest, escaping the freezing conditions of the Arctic, perhaps, or passing through on their way to North Africa.
For sentimental souls, it’s perhaps a time to recall a melancholy masterpiece written by a young Sandy Denny more than half a century ago which some consider to be among the saddest songs of all time.
In three brief verses, the 19-year-old managed to create an extraordinarily poignant reflection on the passage of time prompted by the sight of departing birds:
Across the evening sky,
all the birds are leaving,
But how can they know,
it’s time for them to go?
Before the winter fire,
I will still be dreaming,
I have no thought of time.
Who Knows Where The Time Goes? featured on a number of albums, including versions with The Strawbs and Fairport Convention, and became her best-known composition, as well as the final song she would perform at a charity concert before her untimely death at the age of 31.
The song’s focus on timeless natural events provides a perfect backcloth for anyone reflecting on life and loss, and while some may find it a lament that conjures up feelings of regret and sorrow, for others the ballad may feel like a more uplifting call to savour what time we have with our loved ones, living each moment to the full.
Looking up at the geese passing overhead reminds us that September and October witness one of nature’s most amazing bird spectacles, as the seasonal migration sees millions of birds flying south, east and west around the British Isles.
For fans of Sandy Denny and Fairport Convention there’s an extra layer of emotion in the mixture of power and fragility that can be detected in the voice of a troubled young woman hailed by many as the foremost British folk-rock singer/songwriter of her time but whose legacy lives on in her haunting voice and lyrics:
So come the storms of winter,
and then the birds in spring again,
I have no fear of time.
For who knows,
how my love grows?
And who knows,
where the time goes?
