I was musing further on the sight of the deer among the poppies (see my previous post) and remembered a wonderful and wonder-ing poem by W H Davies, our ‘local’ poet as those of us who live in the Nailsworth area like to think. Davies was an extraordinary man, a self-styled ‘supertramp’, an émigré from Wales and late settler in Watledge, on the edge of Nailsworth, where he lived in contentment with his much younger wife, a former prostitute. At last there are signs that his old cottage is being restored – we need a local literary landmark!
See how the restoration is going at http://www.stroudpeople.co.uk/work-restore-Glendower/story-14455261-detail/story.html
More on that, perhaps, later. For now, here’s the poem. The confluence of deer and poppies echoes the rapture that Davies felt when experiencing the cuckoo’s song and the rainbow at the same time.
A Great Time
Sweet Chance, that led my steps abroad,
Beyond the town, where wild flowers grow --
A rainbow and a cuckoo, Lord,
How rich and great the times are now!
Know, all ye sheep
And cows, that keep
On staring that I stand so long
In grass that's wet from heavy rain --
A rainbow and a cuckoo's song
May never come together again;
May never come
This side the tomb.
William Henry Davies 1871-1940
See how the restoration is going at http://www.stroudpeople.co.uk/work-restore-Glendower/story-14455261-detail/story.html
More on that, perhaps, later. For now, here’s the poem. The confluence of deer and poppies echoes the rapture that Davies felt when experiencing the cuckoo’s song and the rainbow at the same time.
A Great Time
Sweet Chance, that led my steps abroad,
Beyond the town, where wild flowers grow --
A rainbow and a cuckoo, Lord,
How rich and great the times are now!
Know, all ye sheep
And cows, that keep
On staring that I stand so long
In grass that's wet from heavy rain --
A rainbow and a cuckoo's song
May never come together again;
May never come
This side the tomb.
William Henry Davies 1871-1940
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