Water in a glass ...

Inside the church it was dark and full of old shadows - 

Penelope and I had walked along the ridgeway - 

We'd seen three hedge sparrows - 

Sloes hung from the thorns like dark pearls - 

A lamb searched for its mother - 

Bare wind sculpted trees marked the edges of silent fields - 

Our boots were heeled with clay - 

We'd looked down, over the valley, towards the sea -  

There were pale clouds above the Isle of Portland - 

We'd walked back to the quiet village - 

The light was dimmed by gentle memory - 

In the chancel we'd read the words engraved upon The Warham Monument -  

I'd seen my life as water in a glass -  

I thought of the White Horse above the village - 

I heard its hoofbeats - I felt its breath - 

12.00

Friday 2 December 2016 

Osmington

Dorset