Shropshire Hills

Cardington

After lunch at the Royal Oak

We visited the church

Where three old ladies (well they were!)

Served the village creche.

A single little girl played on

While we chatted freely

Of bright millennium installations

And local embroidery pieces.

We left to continue on our way

And only later on

Did I seem to sense the vivid

Icons they had formed.

Three women - three goddesses -

Guarding a holy child

Happily, in a sacred place,

Surrounded by the wild

But unifying Shropshire hills;

The sense of tensions held

In perfect equilibrium

Of earth and spirit furled

In one unconscious ripple

Of everything that is

And we, supported on the waves

Of urgency to live

Forever, as we do today

Only aware that joy

Like this, can outlast the moment

If we let it fly.

Brian Hick 2009

©copyright Sally Hick 4.8.22