Walking from Roughside

Atop the crags over abandoned quarry shafts
with a view towards Smales a stone farmhouse further
a short-eared owl swooping to stop further approach
towards owlets out of their nest on Roughside moor.
Near Toddy’s Rigg overlooking the Cleugh below
poor moorland grazing fit only for a few sheep
but pasture for cows in a field near the Bower.
Everywhere open to wide skies conifers only knee high
Plantations newly plowed would one day hide the sky.
Descending the steep slope to the banks of the Cleugh
on sunny days though grass was dry to lie upon
its roots were damp with dew if your fingers felt there
sound didn’t carry once you stepped over the edge
down among memories of what happened before
towards a gnarled and stunted leafless tree bereft
by the banks of a stream running through a ravine
past an untended spring aware only of silence

Richard M Russell (C) Dick Russell
                  August 15, 2022