Summer Pilgrimage Poem by Sheena Blackhall

Take the pathway east
Where the toads and froglets feast

At the yellow iris pool
Beeches quiver, green and cool

Reed and petal, black winged moth
Poppy like a scarlet Goth

Humming in the midgied breeze
Insects seething in the trees

Split tongued vetch and foxglove tower
Ragged robin's ivied bower

Speedwell, thistle, clover, birch
Buttercups where sunbeams perch

South dips downwards to the lake
The way the hinds on hoof-toe make

Pebbles, pockmarked, gnarled and pitted
Water clashing, sandy gritted

Heron, neck outstretched and grey
Greets the otter in the bay

Waves drop stitches on the shore
Rotting trunk and mushroom spore

Westwards to the waterfall
Here's the way that's best of all

Shamrock, bluebell, Tara's cave
Creaking oaks, ache-filled and grave

Cow-spit, dog grass, clover, fern
Forget-me-nots at every turn

Rowan, mole hill, docken leaf
Fallen feather on the heath

Northwards rising to the sky
Where owl keeps a weather eye
For tiny movements on the grass
Where the changing seasons pass

Thigh-grip foot tilt up the stair
Leads to cloud and endless air