Six Poets of the Equinox (Group Walk One: Alfoxton)

 

Six Poets of the Equinox
(the antithesis to the four horsemen of the apocalypse) 




Assembling,

We unsheathe our pens in the shadow of the Coleridge Oak.


Alas our outstretched limbs do not amount to its great girth,

But oh the potential!


Proceeding, 

We walk as one through trees of green,

The clouds weep, 

For Summer is passing. 

The wind plays hide and seek with my vision 

As my hair turns nest-like,

I turn and see you.


Connecting, 

We pass a melee of grounded blue tits,

Freshly out-cased conkers - 

Flashbacks of childhood reflected on their shiny coats, 

A drought of un-cupped acorns

Dropped too soon,

Yes, I can see you.


Ascending now, 

From under the hooves of huntsmen, 

A golden shaft of light breaks through

Fleetingly at first, on fungi,

(No chicken in these woods),

You glow like nature's streetlamp,

At the end of arched-branched tunnels - 

Life from rotting hollows;

And I can see you! 


For you are a beacon Autumn!

And I? 

I am an equal among these Alfoxton knights. 


A Wensley 

26/09/2022

On the occasion of our first walk as a group of Quantock Poets on our quest to produce poetry for The Quantock Poetry Trail. Our walk took us to Alfoxton Park, home to Wordsworth and much visited by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, where they created the Romantic Poetry movement.


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