A Poem and a Painting

Walk with me.

Down to the river, in the quiet time.
When all have gone home
and the river witch turns the ripples to gold.
We can sit for a while and hear the sleepy foxes stir.
And as the owls tuck the messages of the night beneath their soft white wings,
we can watch and wonder where the golden path leads

Sit with me beneath the apple blossom.
The drowsy bees will enchant us with their humming song
and we will be drunk on the scent of April days.

Run with me over the summer lands,
past golden kings in their reedy river castles.
Up the old hill, to stir the one that has slumbered too long beneath.
Do you see his white horse waiting in the shadows?
Can you see the glint of silver sword by the light of the moon?

Lie with me upon this old earth.
Beneath us, all that has passed will pass to us.
With the songs of old Wessex in our bones, our souls shall dance in the ghosts of flower meadows
and with all those who loved this land.

Dream with me.
Of a world where beauty in a single raindrop and a dandelion mesmerises all.
And where the golden leaves of a thousand forests are more precious than any gold jangling in our silk or threadbare pockets.
 ~Karen Davis 2019

A poem I wrote last year and a painting titled 'The Starlit Wessex Path' I did earlier this year, just before lockdown.