Poetry and more....

My Dad was here recently, he visited on his own while my Mother was up North. As always, he bought a little poetry of his down to read to me. This particular one caught my fancy. I love the sentiment...but not all the individual words. Personally, I would never pick "odiferous" as an adjective! nor "decrepitude". They worked for him and I guess make it what it is.

This was written once my parents came back from walking El Camino in Spain, and it describes an actual bell that they saw. Their trip was a few years ago but the date on this is 18/08/09.

THE BELL

There was a farmyard in Spain,
With mud, odiferous and deep
And cows, and a poor farmer
With a wheelbarrow,
Doing his best to make a go of things.

Above the stone barn there,
A bell turret with a great
Bronze bell,
Hung motionless with disuse and
Years forgotten.
Streaked with the green decrepitude of age,
Siezed in place, silent,
Beyond notice

All around, fields and woods stretched green.
The eye sess that, and the birds
Swimming in air - no more.
Yet in that indifferent silence
I heard such a ringing
That time cracked open.

Mud, cattle, trees and sky
Were gone,
And I set sail upon such a sea
That I can never leave.

I should like to be, one day,
Such a bell,
Hanging in slence, rusted, still,
Unnoticed by the years,
Waiting till someone comes,
Looks up and listens.
Then I shall ring and ring
And ring.

DOUG BAYNE