Poetry in the Park

We’re pleased to be able to share with you three beautifully written poems inspired by a guided walk around the park.

Belonging

Margaret Brett

A gathering Sunday in June

On a meandering path

Were a confident squirrel

Popped out from the trees

My nostalgia

Thinking of your lifes belonging in this park

A resting sojourn in cultured nature

You who had served wars time

Welcome to breathe with the trees

Here among Shakespeare’s dreams

As leaves on his remembrance oak tree

You walked with your little dog

To watch the cricket on the green

The gleaming whites

Traditions and pastimes of gentle men

Visionary ideals in soothing spaces

Journeys to other places

The lake and the Swiss bridge

A remembrance stone for Eisteddfod 1917

Hedd Wyn the pacifist Welsh soldier won

The bards prize, a black carved chair

The poet had not returned

Perished as one of the lost generation

The chair remains for him

A park for the people then and still

Twinned with Central park

Enduring human connections.

Shelagh Duffy

This is a night ride in the park by a man who came on his bike as a boy.

A bike ride at night to remember and understand the shepherd poet, his sacrifice, and the effects of war.

I ride again in the green,

The green memory,

Of the places of my youth,

And I come to this park at night,

Head torch on, bike winding,

The water, the trees,

The traffic quiet,

No people here now,

Complete quiet.

I ride to the stone,

Lean my bike,

And stand, call to memory,

First light through mist,

Into green valleys of home.

I do not sit, I stand forever,

I ride my bike alone.

A Walk in the Park

            Kemal Houghton

Let me sniff this out:
the fresh turned earth
and hard-packed soil of it,
the seasons changing and always
staying the same with the fall
of the years and decades and
much, much more.

Let me sniff this out:
I see the acorn in the oak,
watch the sunrise as it sets
and stare ponderingly
across the vastness of the field,
scenting the primeval swamp of it.

Let me sniff this out:
they say my life is short
yet I see you grieve
for the puppy of me,
but you can never comprehend
since all you have is time.