Up the Tor!

It’s a beautiful day…

Clotted cream clouds

Close enough to touch,

Pierced by sun rays

Caressing the moor.

Golden gorse; purple heather;

Fronded green bracken;

Glorious patchworked vista -

Ah Dartmoor!

To the top!

Blow away cobwebs

Of previous aches and pains.

Briskly walking, then scrambling

Over slated pathways

And rocky outcrops

Up the Tor!  Breathe!

Life to Death

I watch my life passing slowly before my eyes

I can remember the past so clearly and wish I was there

Memories are so familiar and warming, yet not then

Only in the past are they welcoming, not in the here and now

The grip on reality is fading now with each sip

Just one action could leave me sinking down and down

To that world of unknown trepidation, the deathly experience

Like the forbidden bite of an apple, leading to peace

What makes us stay, keeps us living in this hell?

Fear of losing power, of letting go of the accepted?

Social rules reign and will forever until Nature takes us

Why wait ‘til then?  Why not take the bite, the power?

Only because we live for loving whilst we’re here

Will we strive for happiness and fight in the face of all

Mill End

Listening to the birds,

The crows in the firs;

Hearing the bubbling stream

As it winds its way down

And under Dogmarsh Bridge.

The great white house

With the churning waterwheel,

Wisteria-clad backyard,

Croquet lawn and flowered borders,

In the walled front garden.

Harry the black Labrador

Who meets and greets

Each visitor with a wag

And a look, as if to say:

“Any food for me today?”

Two friendly felines,

With tortoiseshell fur,

Curled up snail-like

On the lounge sofas,

Quietly purring.

Walks to Chagford and Fingle Bridge

Amongst grazing sheep

And leaping salmon.

This is where I like to be -

At Mill End Hotel.