Norfolk Coast Path

                                          Wednesday

                                     Cold and overcast

                               But today's rain comes as a 

                                      Blessing from BVM.

To Walsingham, the No29 goes all the way

But guided tours are off until late June, so we must pay

To show ourselves around the Abbey grounds and holy wells

Though cut our visit short as icy rain returns in squalls

Preferring coffee in the shrine cafe, or visit to

The Shrine Museum, the court and cells, for undesirables who

Got extra time for looking around, for whistling or singing

Whilst those who did far naughtier things are sent on via the shipping.

Soup, back in the shrine cafe, before we make a start

To walk round the Rosary Way which lies at the heart

Of Pilrimage to Walsingham - a journey for the mind

To focus ever more upon the mysteries, to find

A new way through the Labyrinth of emotions which entwine

Our seeking for the spiritual, our sense of the divine

Until within the Holy House we know that we have come

Not to an end but to a place where new quests are begun

For this place is a vehicle, a means of moving on,

A start of possibilities for life once we have gone

Back to our normalities, our families, our friends,

Where love and mercy daily find that giving never ends

And shrines, however beautiful, however filled with prayer,

Are dangerous if we come to believe that only there

Can we fulfil our purposes, experience true worth

When all the time, where're we are, we've all the gifts of earth.

The Albatros is open so we dine

On pancakes, beer and Scrabble until nine.

Brian Hick April 2012

©copyright Sally Hick 16.4.24