The wheat emerging golden from the earth ...

Pesvner says one visits the church for its 14th Century wall paintings -

Penelope followed me into the time hallowed nave - 

The church was far from hearth fires - 

Only shadows in the fields marked where houses had been - 

Lapwings flew above chalk and flint - 

Snowdrops softened the lonely churchyard - 

On the south wall of the church, a king, one of three, held high his proud hawk - 

Three skeletons stood tall with their long dark bones - 

Above the quick and the dead, Saint Margaret of Antioch was received into Paradise - 

Each side of the altar were stone coffin lids, worn smooth by prayer - 

I imagined gentle people, coming from the fields - 

The walls of the church, vivid with meaning, 

The wheat emerging golden from the earth - 

12.00

Friday 10 February 2017

St Mary the Virgin

Tarrant Crawford

Dorset