From Cardingmill Valley to Pole Bank

Through Rectory Wood to Little Spout

Then on the Shropshire Path

Across heather and the moor

To Pole Bank heights at last.

The Malvern Hills are to the south

With Shrewsbury to the north

Cannock Chase is in the east

But the rain clouds force

Is gathering in western skies

To dampen our tomorrow

So, on the Longmynd for today

There is no time for sorrow,

I passed this way when just a boy

With David from next door

And felt we were the only ones

Who dared to explore

This silent valley with its rush

Of water on each side

And climbing up to hanging bluffs

There was no need to hide

The excitement and the joy we felt 

At one with all the world

- short trousers and sensible shoes -

But spirits now unfurled

Across the wide expanse of gorse

On sheep tracks hardly seen

Climbing ever higher until

On every side the scene

Exploded, as it did today,

With, in the distant haze,

Places I have grown to love

United as the ways

Have come together in this place

A crossroad of returns

Where all the joy that I felt then

Once more within me burns,

Brian Hick 2009

©copyright Sally Hick 1.8.22