The Blaze of Blue — A Poem in Silk

A rare moment remembered. A fleeting flash made permanent.

There are moments in life that remain untouched by time. They happen once, maybe only once, but shape a lifetime of seeing.

For Nicholas Thackray, that moment arrived like a whisper, sharp and vivid, as a kingfisher cut through the still morning air. A single encounter. A solitary dive. A blaze of blue over water, disappearing almost as swiftly as it had come.

It was not just the bird he saw, but a feeling. The flash, the hush, the breath held in awe. That one encounter seeded a memory so vivid, it refused to fade. Years later, it would re-emerge, first as a scribbled poem, then as a sketch, and finally as the new scarf: The Blaze of Blue.

This scarf began, as many Thackray pieces do, with a verse. But unlike anything before it, this design carries the ghost of a fleeting moment — a memory transposed into form. The original pencil sketch, spontaneous and rough, was the first expression of what would become a study in contrast and composition: the tension between stillness and motion, between what we see and what we feel.

Reserved in palette, yet rich in symbolism, The Blaze of Blue lives in its negative space. It speaks through the silence, the curve of line, the restrained geometry. It does not depict the kingfisher — it remembers it. Colour is used not for realism, but for recollection: sunrise tones and the cool blue shadow of that morning. The scarf is not literal it is emotional. And like the kingfisher, its truth reveals itself only in motion, when worn and lived in.

As with the sighting itself, the scarf is rare. Only 50 will be made. A gesture of rarity. A tribute to the once-in-a-lifetime.

When draped, the abstract forms break and reform. The bird becomes thought. The flight becomes memory. The wearer becomes part of the story.

At Thackray, we do not just make scarves. We render experiences — personal, poetic, profound. And we invite you, through this limited piece, to witness the beauty of what passes, and to carry it forward.

Introducing the poem that began it all:

The Blaze Of Blue

A blaze of blue, a breath, a flame,
Too quick to hold, too wild to tame.
He cuts the air, then disappears,
Into the hush of river’s tears.

We wait, we watch, we scarcely blink,
He’s gone before we’ve time to think.
Yet in that flash, our souls ignite,
A moment made of purest light.

So too is life, it will not stay.
Its brightest hues just slip away.
But oh, to glimpse them as they pass,
The kingfisher in flight, at last.