New monoman + my first poem
For those few who don't use an aggregator these days - I've updated the 'look and feel' of Monoman. The last design was almost three years old, so it's about time really.
I'm also going to stick my neck out and publish my first ever poem (or at least the first since school days.) I wrote it in Dublin whilst pining for the Fjords dear old Blighty. Some of you are aware of my interest in old trackways and green lanes, and this ditty is inspired by the same:
The Low Way
Through field, meadow, copse and coppiced wood,
Hidden by pleached hedgerow, ditch and oak,
The droveways, hollow ways and sunken lanes
Run to and from no-where;
Dead, dried rivers divorced from the sea.
Scars born from their aboriginal scarring
Are scarred by tribal Celtic, Belgic, Wealh;
Whipped by purple-dyed rough Roman wool;
By Frisian, Dane and Norman.
Lonely lanes beyond the lea;
Old, forgotten Wicherdis.
Past tun and burgh and boundried Ferding,
Hushed by hazel, ash, fern and blackthorn.
Secret black ditches carve and camber
The ancient Hundreds:
Joining lines of history.
As the sap rises, the trackway falls
Away from sight into Hadian forgetfulness.
The Low Way, The Furzeway, the Green Lanes
Are green lines of residual wish-ways.
Isophenes of ancient memory.
Posted by monoman at 10:47 PM on August 04, 2008
