Poem: Permanence and Change
you might become complacent / walking through the gold light
or the mist / the moors / with snipe rising just ahead of your footfall
just as you can fall / into a romantic miasma / people tell me they want
a poem / that keeps the melody / the wonder / the softness of light
the shape of fells and rocks / babbling becks / the scent of sheep
centuries of shepherding / landscape shaped by nature and man / as if
it fits on a box of chocolates / makes the perfect postcard / as if
there’s nothing to it / no bills / no politics / no strains / as if
the elegiac farmer strides /makes a silhouette of himself / against
the winter sun / crook in hand / mind clear of cares / when really
that might be the only way / to step away from stress / to find clear air
space to breathe / to find distance from uncertainties / what’s certain
is necessity / to fetch the flock in a sea of hills / to tend the cows
to follow the cycle of another year / to keep going / even when
ends won’t meet / bloodlines thin / the air is changing / the pressure’s on
but wait / not everyone’s story is the same / make no assumptions
some are moving on / and driving / change / facing forwards
quietly / quietly / heads down / hearts strong / quietly making change
