My own wild places ...

Driving to Salisbury, I thought of Roger Deacon - wildness, he'd said, may be found near at hand - there was no need to seek out mountains or seal haunted islands - 

I thought of my own wild places, those nearby, which were precious to me - 

I thought of wild swimming at Winspit, the bright green kelp brushing against my legs - 

I thought of listening to the cries of sea birds at Arne, of stretching out in the sand dunes behind the beach at Studland, looking upwards at the cloudless August sky, sand dusting my skin - 

In time to come, I knew, these places would sustain me - 

One day in the future, perhaps soon, dear faces would dissolve into shadows, then darkness - 

"There is wildness everywhere, if only we stop in our tracks and look around us"

Roger Deacon, quoted by Peter Macfarlane in "The Wild Places"

11.00

February 28 2015