Two poems for the South West Peak - A Landscape at a Crossroads

Two poems for the South West Peak - A Landscape at a Crossroads by Karen Shelley-Jones

A poem to summarise our intended Landscape Partnership Scheme:

A weather-hardened traveller

Bearing the weight of generations,

Rests awhile at a crossroads.

His grandfather’s wisdom of the seasons,

The coal-black hands of winter

And hayseed fingernails of summer,

Tell the story of his childhood beginning.

Through land of myths and legends,

Along hollow-way and turnpike road;

Past collapsed coal-mine shafts

And rubble-filled old lime kilns;

Forgotten relicts of landscape past.

His proud field barn, once shelter

To hardy cattle after the hay cut,

Now tumbledown and empty

Even of summers swallows.

Which path to take through watershed moors

And fading echoes of the curlew's cry?

Visiting travellers from silk towns around,

Drink from this land, yet

Have been oblivious to his struggle.

Now they will join and lend a hand

On the path where wisdom and innovation

Meet to pave a smoother road.

A closing poem to mark the completion of our Landscape Partnership Scheme:

A mud-spattered volunteer

Bearing the weight of timbers,

Rests awhile in a ditch.

The volunteer’s hardiness of the seasons,

The dirt-brown hands of winter

And hayseed fingernails of summer,

Tell the story of her volunteer journey.

Through land of myths and legends,

Along hollow-way and turnpike road;

Past sundials and stoops

And consolidated limekilns;

Adopted relicts of landscape past.

Her proud field barn, once shelter

To hardy cattle after the hay cut,

Now mapped, measured and mended

Ready for summers swallows.

With sphagnum planted on watershed moors,

Proud places to hear the curlew's cry.

Visiting families from silk towns around,

Gave care to this land, and

Have learned of its wonders.

Now they have joined and lent a hand

On the path where skills and wild play

Led to new friendships.