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.

The Earth Sings in the Language of Light

September has come and almost passed. The best of the blackberries are gone and the holly berries are just about to ripen. They are late this year.  It's been a busy month and I don't really have much to say. In the quiet time, late when the candle is lit though I find words visit. The ones below came to me at such a time and I have used the first line on a notebook.  

The Earth sings in the language of light,
A hum of bee in soft sunlight

Golden shafts through forest glade,

Winter glint excalibur blade, 

Rainbow arch over rain soaked hills,

Liquid light on windowsills

Ballads of the heavenly rays,

Melodies of summer days

Starlight voice like bells are pealing,

For gentle songs of moonlight healing

                                                           ~Karen Davis 2019

                                       

This post is mainly a round up, sharing what's new in the shops. As I said in August's post the originals will all go on the web shop now and not Etsy. 

New Autumn and Winter cards, using previous paintings.

Yes, it's here! The 2020 calendar has arrived! 

And three Autumn hares which are heading over to the web shop shortly.

There are also postcards featuring these for those of you that miss out on the originals. 

Here's to a perfectly magical October!

Rooks

Trust the grand and gentle trees,

Never will their welcome fade;
All that lives may lie at ease
In the haven of their shade;
Treasuries of tranquil air
Keep they for the burning days;
And their boughs ascend like prayer,
And their leaves break forth like praise.

Patient are they, for they wait
On the humours of the year;
Noble, for they keep their state
When the winter leaves them sere;
Brave to suffer heat and cold,
And the tempest's war-alarms;
Very tender, for they hold
All bird-babies in their arms.
Where the winter silence hears
No voice louder than a brook's,
There was built for many years
A great city of the rooks;

Excerpt from The lady and the rooks by Menella Bute Smedley