SIR,

When an old school friend came over from Dortmund in Germany to join me for my 59th Birthday last month I decided to take him up the Kymin to enjoy the beauty of the woods, meadows and glorious views. It was especially magical as it was covered with a carpet of bluebells. After reminiscing about days past we were silenced by this wondrous place. I later wrote this poem:

A peal of bluebells resounded

where we stood

Ringing God's glory in field

and in wood

Ragwort and daisy and buttercup too,

Each dissolves in this ocean of blue.

 

Flowers so fragrant and dense in the air

Delicious intoxicant which we

both share:

A weathered seat which has lost all its paint

Says: "Be seated my friends lest you both faint".

 

Enchanting vista and subtle the scent

No poetic verse can hold what is meant;

Beauty has raced ahead mere

human thought,

How can one capture or claim to have caught?

 

Kissed are my eyes and caressed

are my ears,

Loveliness beckons as if

through the years

A rapture of young love,

mixed with the old,

Of seconds and eons, silver and gold.

 

This Tardis moment where time has stood still

Past, present, future combines on this hill

No moment has passed and yet hours gone by

Immense is the view that's condensed in my eye.

Mark Parry

(Monmouth)