Skies rise
ever higher there.
Menacing
clouds cluster
Massing grey
above the heather
Clad
Undulations
of the upland.
Featherbed sphagnum
And coal black
peat,
Stones in
cloughs and runnels
Reveal the bones beneath.
Far away
Places where
people live
Languish in white
haze -
Villages and
cities
Multiplying
days.
Startling
grouse and a mountain hare
Floundering
up there,
Late one
afternoon in April,
I came
across a bumble bee
Inspecting
gorse and bilberry
Amid fresh
buds of purple ling
Where
peewits and sweet pipits sing.
Humming -
Oblivious of
me
Going about
his business
Industrious
as... a bee.
Descending
from the moorland
Along a shooters’
track
Loomed
ghosts of ancient quarries
As I was
heading back.
Behind
Those
brooding moors
Rolled like a swelling sea
Featureless
and friendless
Oblivious of
me.
Very moving. For some reason it reminded me of the body that was found in a peat bog. He laid, undisturbed for a long time until he was discovered. I will have to look him up now.
ReplyDeleteNothing to do with this post but thanks for the tip of "unorthodox" on Netflix. It was excellent!
Oh good, I am glad you also enjoyed "Unorthodox" Christina.
DeleteI once saw "Tollund Man" at the museum in Silkeborg, Denmark and have often thought of him.
Were you in a sombre mood when you wrote that YP?
ReplyDeleteI think moors are quite sombre places JayCee.
DeleteI was back on Top Withens again hoping to see the Brontes and having a pint with Branwell in the Black Bull. Super poem YP.
ReplyDeleteBranwell liked a bit of opium too. Did you also partake - maybe in The Gents?
DeleteThe Old Apochethary I think where he bought his Benson and Hedges cigarettes and Opium me thinks.
ReplyDeleteIt must be hard having three brilliant sisters. Hard to shine as brightly.
DeleteI am not hijacking your blog YP but there is talk that Branwell helped write the books and he was a very good artist too. Apparently the Reverend Bronte was really called Patrick Brunte and he was born in County Down. All fascinating stuff.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the old family surname was in fact O'Pronty. And please don't worry about hijacking as I know that used to be a common pastime in Ireland - especially up in Ulster. More popular than Smithwicks.
DeleteSmithwicks is awful like a lot of commercial beers like Heineken and Carlsberg.
DeleteNice! I like your ear for the sounds of the language.
ReplyDeleteThanks Steve. I try to make each word count - not just with meaning but with sound too.
Delete👍 ... A-OK on your poem! I totally enjoyed that!
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading it Marcia.
DeleteI enjoyed this as it gave me a feel for the moors. I particularly liked the last stanza. Thank you for sharing your creative writing.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading it Bonnie.
Delete"Humming -
ReplyDeleteOblivious of me"
When working in the garden this last week I have two Pulmonaria plants which have been full of bees who have ignored me working next to them. I shall read them your poem when the weather improves again.
If you do that the neighbours may request a visit by a mental health nurse. "Och aye nurse ye ken, he was talkin' wi' bees and earthworms too!"
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