Grasmoor End

Gold cherry

By Parson Thru

Mon, 18 Aug 2014
  • 3168 reads
20 comments
 

I passed my fells
Causey Pike
Outerside and Barrow
Sand Hill
Eel Crag
(or Crag Hill, if that’s your bag)
and Grasmoor
Sweeping down through Coledale Hause
to Grisedale Pike
Or along the old mine road
where you took a piss

I passed them in the dead of night
Unseen by headlights
searching down
between the walls and trees
I felt them looming
far beyond the sheep
that slept in granite dreams

So many years ago
I walked
upon their well-sprung grass
with Gwilym
Young enough to run down scree
on Eel Crag’s sides
Free from practical considerations
such as injury or death

By day
their mass stood undeniable
Storm-clouds dragged and rent
across their shoulders
Ravens circling there among the Gods

And now
upon this prison train
I search to find a way
to leave death-row
Perhaps Madrid or Chile
teaching English in old age
Just one last flight
to lie on Grasmoor End

Certificate PG
Poem
Autobiography

Comments

Submitted by insertponceyfre... on

Beautiful. (I hope you get there)

 

Submitted by Parson Thru on

Wow! :-)

Thanks insert.

Lovely of you to say that.

 

Parson Thru

Submitted by Parson Thru on

Thank you for the cherry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe there's always a light at the end.

Parson Thru

Submitted by Philip Sidney on

Beautiful, sad, hopeful.

Submitted by Parson Thru on

Me or the poem? Sorry Philip. :-) Thank you.

Parson Thru

Submitted by Bee on

Wow, PT, this is wonderful!

Bee

Submitted by Parson Thru on

Just going into work. Thank you Bee, so much. You don't know what you have just done
Xx

Parson Thru

Submitted by tcook on

Ah for the days of scree running! It was always a combination of that and 'knickerbocker glories' that left your trousers in tatters. How did we survive? It was a strange confidence we had that all would be well - and it was!

I like this a lot.

Submitted by Parson Thru on

Hey! Thanks Tony. Love the photo. Looks like the point of contemplation on Crag Hill just before giving up hundreds of feet and having to climb them all again.

Sometimes, conquering fear is about reinhabiting that childlike mind that doesn't know it in the first place. Well, apart from bogeymen and Dr. Who. Thank you.

Parson Thru

Submitted by tcook on

It's Grisedale Pike according to wiki commons - but they do tend to look a little like each other!

Submitted by Parson Thru on

Just across the valley. Must get back up there. Walked it maybe four times over the years. Wonderful memories. Camino de Santiago at end Sept. That'll do for now.

Parson Thru

Submitted by Ray Schaufeld on

I like it! You share the immensity of the Fells. I share your dreams of teaching English in foreign parts.

Submitted by Parson Thru on

Live that dream Elsie. Live that dream. X

Parson Thru

Submitted by Parson Thru on

The great news is that the party is still swinging from Friday night cerca de Cockermouth! Go, Kerry, go! Xx

Parson Thru

Submitted by VeraClark on

It's beautifully majestic with your trademark pebbles of philosophy along the route. 

 

Submitted by Parson Thru on

:-) Thank you, VC. Really nice of you. Not sure whether they're pebbles or sheep droppings. ;-)

Parson Thru

Submitted by Geoff Smith on

This is an incredible piece of work Parson. Those place names have a kind of supernatural quality don't they? The whole piece is subtle and complex and makes a small part of my twist a little in envy.

Amazing work.

(Why a prison train - is this a autobigraphical reference?)

Thanks for reading. I am grateful for your time.

Submitted by Parson Thru on

Hi Jasper. I'm genuinely moved by the nice things people have been saying. There are major emotional currents churning just now, which might have something to do with all of this. I'm not a skilled craftsman. Those fell names are poetry in their own right and I almost ought to acknowledge a debt to the people who named them. They carry their own supernatural influence that can be felt just through their invocation. Thanks again for your lovely words. Prison train? Maybe I'll leave that little mystery for another time.

Take care, JM.

PT

Parson Thru

Submitted by scratch on

What can I add other that my admiration?  Fantastic poetry.

 

Submitted by Parson Thru on

Wonderful, scratch.  You never really know.

Parson Thru