Original DDE™ art: “Kingfisher” by: rob kistner © 1/5/26
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The epiphany came to him at the river’s bend, where water forgot its hurry and learned to slow down, listening. On this Pacific Northwest morning, fog lifted like a curtain, revealing stones smoothed by centuries of insistence. He had come looking for answers, but the river offered only motion—constant, unarguable, patient.
A kingfisher cut the air, focused and sudden, striking the river’s surface — then rising again with nothing. Failure, the man realized, was not embarrassment here. The bird simply returned to the branch — alert, unashamed, ever-vigilant. In this he understood — nature did not measure worth by outcome, only by endeavor. To genuinely apply oneself was enough.
As the sun warmed him, he felt the old weight loosen. Trees stood without apology. The river ran unabashed. He left the water’s edge seemingly unchanged, but something essential had shifted. The world was not asking him to be certain, only to be fully present—to keep moving, even when empty-beaked, toward the next bend.
stone keeps the river
learning the shape of patience—
time blinks — stone remains
Original DDE™ art: “Maybe Next Time” by: rob kistner © 1/5/26
rob kistner © 1/5/26