A caravan came walking
A caravan came walking
Hooves clip-clop multiple the first we heard
One July day, into our village
Which, though no-one nowadays is passing through
Yet does straddle, straggly, unkempt
The Grande Randonnée, ancient footpath
St Iago’s, St Jacques’ shell-marked
All the way to Compostela
A man his wife their small child (strapped to his back)
Four horses and a dog
All of them dusty, over-heated, worn in the blaze
Too many days slow progress in midsummer heat
By natural selection ( Tibetan prayer flags, tinkling wind-chimes, clearly there were signs)
They chose our neighbour Guy
Then by extension, us
Who answered in affirmative
When she asked ( German/English/French)
Clear-eyed direct
To share our garden, playground, pool
A taste of strawberry?
At night we heard the horses whicker
And the moon transmogrified
All July they spent with us
Then suddenly the caravan, refreshed
Was champing to be gone
Horses clip-clop multiple, disappearing
Along the shell-marked way
A caravan came walking
Hooves clip-clop multiple the first we heard
One July day, into our village
Which, though no-one nowadays is passing through
Yet does straddle, straggly, unkempt
The Grande Randonnée, ancient footpath
St Iago’s, St Jacques’ shell-marked
All the way to Compostela
A man his wife their small child (strapped to his back)
Four horses and a dog
All of them dusty, over-heated, worn in the blaze
Too many days slow progress in midsummer heat
By natural selection ( Tibetan prayer flags, tinkling wind-chimes, clearly there were signs)
They chose our neighbour Guy
Then by extension, us
Who answered in affirmative
When she asked ( German/English/French)
Clear-eyed direct
To share our garden, playground, pool
A taste of strawberry?
At night we heard the horses whicker
And the moon transmogrified
All July they spent with us
Then suddenly the caravan, refreshed
Was champing to be gone
Horses clip-clop multiple, disappearing
Along the shell-marked way
7th August 2010, Hounoux
Sounds the life for me but I would be a fair weather traveller I fear. Our holiday in a horse drawn caravan around the south east corner of Ireland, two boys, my lovely gran and a one eyed cat, was a wonderful experience but the day it poured with rain was grim. I often see the travellers in their beautiful caravans camping at Priddy Pools on the Mendips and one day I had to catch one of their horses that had been spooked and was running down the road with it's chain clanging behind it. Still, I have my fire pit at the bottom of the garden and a warm bed waiting for me in the house.
ReplyDeleteClare, visiting and reading my poem, said 'It's like an Adelstrop moment.' This meant nothing to me, so she told me of Edward Thomas' poem. I love it!
ReplyDeleteAdlestrop
Yes, I remember Adlestrop --
The name, because one afternoon
Of heat the express-train drew up there
Unwontedly. It was late June.
The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat.
No one left and no one came
On the bare platform. What I saw
Was Adlestrop -- only the name
And willows, willow-herb, and grass,
And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry,
No whit less still and lonely fair
Than the high cloudlets in the sky.
And for that minute a blackbird sang
Close by, and round him, mistier,
Farther and farther, all the birds
Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.
Edward Thomas