June 14 - Day 73 - 'The eyes have one language everywhere.' George Herbert

When I was taking the pictures of the goslings on Friday, the ‘little trotty wagtail’ (see May 14) reappeared as if wanting to get in on the shot again. I’m thinking it’s the same one as before but realise I might not be an expert at telling two wagtails apart. It certainly brought to mind the phrase about staring someone in the face or eyes.

When George Herbert wrote down in the 17th Century the phrase found in today’s title, he like many of us, would have been completely unaware of the significance it would have around the world in 2021. We’ve all had to learn in a world of face masks, to read other people’s eyes more and also, put more expression in to our own so that people can read us. It also may have made us listen more carefully to what is actually being said.

For people who have a hearing problem or difficulty, this must have been an incredibly difficult time, when lip reading is impossible in certain circumstances and speech has become muffled.

The eyes continue, however, to have that one language and we’ve all become better at reading the language and recognising from the eyes whether people are smiling or frowning, confused, happy or worried. Whatever happens to restrictions in the next few weeks, let’s not lose the determination to listen more carefully to each other and let our eyes not only speak the same language amongst our friends but let’s all aim to make an extra effort for our eyes to smile at everyone we meet.