Catching Up Poem by Hazel Buchan Cameron

Catching Up

Rating: 5.0


My father – ‘Big Duff’, strode ahead with hounds in line.
I scrambled on, always several steps behind.
He covered the ground at pace, narrow roads, stiles
and country miles of grassy fields; pausing only

to lift a scurrying shrew; show a pee-wee nest
or let his dogs run free as I caught my breath.
He knew the terrain; recounted old tales
of warlocks and the last witch burnt to death.

Today, my son takes me across his new turf.
My legs and heart quicken as I try to keep up.
He calls his dog to heel with a click of his thumb
points out a falcon above, and grasshoppers’ hum.

Step by step I’m ten again, tracking the route
of a man at ease with the natural world.
I follow the familiar tall frame, resolute gait;
lurch determinedly on – content in pursuit.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Susan Jarvis 02 October 2009

From the clever following-in-the-footsteps title to the images of nature through the eyes of three generations, this poem is beautiful. S :)

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