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Monthly Archives: August 2011
Bow to the birds
And what will emerge next, and what is emerging now? Out of the silence, out of this, a bird song, a blackbird song, emerges over there, from a tree. My breath emerges, a tickle on my shoulder, a gurgle in … Continue reading
When it’s wet in Grisedale
When it’s wet in Grisedale, the water flows in torrents down the fellsides, silvery white slashes on the rocks, glimpsed through the grey sheets of rain, travelling horizontally with the wind; bogs overflowing, paths become streams. And I? I am … Continue reading
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Fit company
As a young man, I went cycling in Scotland with a companion. Also with us on the journey were my high fitness levels, my over confidence, and my poor ability as a swimmer. This proved to be a dangerous combination … Continue reading
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The kind of things you may need to do if you wish to write poetry that benefits us all
Immerse yourself in the tradition of English Literature, preferably during your early years, so that the inspiration of Donne, or Hopkins, or Keats is connected with the deepest part of your being. Avoid the trap of being sucked wholly into … Continue reading
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For those who will listen, he will tell his tale.
The one who would swim amongst the ice floes stands on the shore in his nakedness. He has practised many years, his mind is clear. He sees the power not the cold. He prepares himself, and enters silently, with intensity. … Continue reading
If, at this moment …
If, when your woman is raging at you, you can stand and love her, and breathe in her fury If you can recognise your own failings, and stand and face her, and say, ‘You deserve to be loved much more … Continue reading
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The message is benign, the message is harsh
Here, as I walk down the lower slopes, my shadow walks before me; we are joined at the sole. Here, in the soft early morning sunshine, the message is very benign: it is all about love, it is only love. … Continue reading
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The commitment of the lark
And as I walked down the slopes of Ingleborough, in the early freshness of an April morning, the larks rose in front of me, one by one, and sang their way upwards against the blue of the sky; and I … Continue reading
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What was revealed
On a sunny Easter Sunday this was the revelation. In the stone lobby of the meeting house, in the gloom, behind the notice frame taken down in order to replace the notice, was a bat, clinging to the wall, small, … Continue reading
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Splitting for the world
I remember when those few of us split from Africa across the Red Sea. We stayed on the beach, eating shell fish and stuff, till we got too many, then another bunch of us split off, and we headed for … Continue reading
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Good Friday 2011, looking northwards from my window
Easter is late this year, though the ash is still bare, while on the hawthorns the leaves are bright; Gragareth looms faintly through the haze in the distance, awaiting revelation from the morning light. I could take my ease on … Continue reading
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Hey, hey, PJA, how many enemies did you make today?
Who is thine enemy? If thou makest any into thine enemy, canst thou not make all into thine enemies: if not now, then in the days to come? If thou makest any into thine enemy, and all may be made … Continue reading
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Love, work, and knowledge
To love on a honeymoon is easy. But the crucial time to love is much later, when the other one looks ugly, and is pissed off with you, and you’re exhausted by the wrestling. To love then is life-changing, to … Continue reading
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Coughing meditation
Sit up in bed on a grey morning; quietly, be with your breathing; focus your attention on a particular spot at the back of your throat, and wait. Notice when the smallest of tickles manifests there – from nothing – … Continue reading
Too many sheds?
The shed was a thing of beauty when it came together, manifesting from old wood out of three other sheds, including the donkey house in the field. Those sheds were themselves made from older ancestor sheds. There was also an … Continue reading
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