This is the last one for a while. I am concentrating on trying to finish my novel for the foreseeable future. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment. See you soon.
D.

     


Down through the softly wooded valley; winding gently, drifting slow...
runs the crystal River Coln; ageless in its languid flow
through the water meadows, sprinkled thick with water marigolds
shining golden in the morning sun... a picture to behold.
Rising up from waterside, the greenwoods clamber, shaded deep;
all bounded round by walls of ancient, honeyed stone where mosses creep.
Beyond them lie the Wolds; criss-crossed with hedgerows...hazel; sharp hawthorn
encompassing the fields; all golden carpets of the ripening corn.

These then, the places that we came in younger days, to tryst a while;
how many hearts, I wonder, have been won or lost, with words of guile?
Sweet promises that lovers make, whilst laying in some shady glade,
lost in each others arms... how many times has this sweet game been played?
Or, perhaps... out in the cornfields, shimmering in the gentle breeze...
plighting troths, or whispering words of love; so eager, then, to please
each other...
gently making love, beneath a clear blue summer sky;
their skin caressed by sun-warmed breezes as the languorous hours slip by.

Standing ancient, strong and timeless... the old Tithe barn down by the stream;
full of sweet hay mown last summer... many loves, these stones have seen.
In the loft, the oaken beams bear traces of these sweetest sins...
hearts all pierced with arrows... and the twinned initials, carved therein.
A pathway winds up from the barn, clambering through the wooded slopes,
and here, another monument to lovers dreams... to lovers hopes.
An ancient oak tree, standing proud and tall... and here, for all to see...
so many arrowed hearts and names carved here in sweet expectancy.

And I was once here, too. Somewhere, I carved a heart to some young dream;
It can't be very high up... I remember; I was just thirteen.
She abandoned my quite soon; her next beau was fifteen... grown up!
Ah, there it is... a little weathered; but, the names still deeply cut.
I wonder then; what happened to these lovers... spanning down the years?
Were some happy, ever after? Did some sadly, end in tears?
It doesn't really matter, for their dreams remain... carved memories.
This is a favourite place of mine... it always was... and it still is.

Bye for now.

D.