Norfolk Quartet (1)

In abstensis

I came to see you

To walk on your shorelines

To stroll through your Fenlands

To visit your country houses

To place myself

Among your grand estates

I was nourished, virtually

By the seas, by the winds

By the emptiness

 

Diffusion

We all pass this way just the once

Some take on knowledge

Some make confounding statements

But we all pass this way just the once

The fortunate may find fair weather

Enjoy a fortuitous, easy life

Others might continuously struggle

But we all pass this way just the once

There are days when the sandbanks are flooded

There are days when men take sleighs on ice

Then, for the fishermen, the salmon come home

But we all pass this way just the once

Some chap studied to become a solicitor

Some chap stepped into the shoes of Rome

Then the lucky one, dressed in silk, with a silver spoon

But we all pass this way just the once

Infusion

Emptiness

Openness

Freedom

Calm

Space above

Space below

Space

Everywhere around me

A grain of sand indeed

Then another

And another

And another

A continuum

To infinity, where

Eternity will be yours

Within the coming hours

Intrusions

Today I am joining

The Norfolk Coast Path

At the Tower Windmill

I am heading for

Scolt Head Island

National Nature Reserve

Then onwards, on foot

To Brancaster Beach

Where, on another day

I might have played

A round of golf

At Royal West Norfolk GC

Peaceful Conceptions

And so I turn

To the Cistercian Monks of Stift Heiligen

I listen to their chant - Music for Paradise

I put on my coat

The sunlight

No longer gifts its warmth

That is how the days and nights are

Light, dark, light

Warm, cold, warm

Action, stillness, action

And so I dwell

In Paradisium

Giving thanks to its anonymous scribe

I breathe in

I breathe out

The time asks for my preparation

That is how the time of time is