Wildmoor Symphony

FIRST MOVEMENT (Minor Key) Times such as these test body soul and mind So should our thoughts be pain and dark confined Or loosed to concentrate on brighter things Like furry puppies, flowers and girls on swings In this bright morning sun as I roved out Past village houses waking to their days With little gardens, blossoms all about As all across this England’s pleasant braes In scepticism native to my heart With self restraint on humour that’s sardonic Ever seeking inspiration to my art I crossed Heath margin: gloomy and achromic Then onward passing over black swamp marsh Of putrid mud and roots round dead stumps curled As sunlight penetrated tree top arch I found myself in new and magic world Tread higher then, along the wooded track The earth grew ever brighter to my eye The canopy now thin, then folded back Til nothing seemed above me, only sky A single buzzard circled in the blue Then as my eye adjusted, were revealed Another, then Red Kites made patterns new With searching eyes they scanned the sunlit field In echelon of helix high then higher Direction by divine traffic control? In choreographed flight dance; did they inspire More birds to soar ethereal sky bowl All Carnivores! life based upon life cycle Thus nature’s way is seen in rhythm born Seasons and the land each follow pattern tidal (These barrows once stood bare in sand dune form) In crisis deep we face a time of trial Could soul’s perception give a way to vow Whether raged against or treating with denial All cycles shall complete; as then - so now SLOW MOVEMENT Boardwalk crossing [1st version] Advance from tall tree grove to broadened scene Tympanic rhythm sounds adagio theme As footsteps beat on path of wooden beam In wider prospect watery levels gleam And mirror brightening skies of cerulean Look over to alternate view surveyed Beyond the tawny grasses still smooth laid Birch saplings dapple amber fern with jade Where silver stems surround a sunlit glade A tiny stream descends a small cascade Above and way beyond the languid fen Our destination draws our steps again To rising slopes and fields of wider ken Where spirits may move onward and ascend Our measured pace continues until then 2nd MOVEMENT 2nd VERSION I have rewritten this 2nd movement to imitate the rhythm of the hypnotic slow movement from Beethoven’s 7th Symphony. [The repeated: ‘DAA DIT DIT DAA DAA’ meter.] The board walk, that crosses the marshy levels of Wildmoor Heath, is of wooden beams that sound a pitched beat when stepped on, like tuned orchestral tympani. (Kettle drums) Incidentally, for music buffs, It seems to me that although the said 7th Symphony movement is marked: ’Allegretto’, it is normally played more like Andante. SLOW MOVEMENT Move out from tall trees - to wider scene now Tympanic rhythm - andante theme As footsteps beat on - path of the Ash beam In diverse prospect - wet levels gleam Look to the surface - life is reflected Now mirrors brightening - skies cerulean See over there the - new view surveyed now Past tawny grasses - rough by wind laid Birch saplings dapple - hazel and apple Amber the dry fern - dashed now with jade Where silver stems - surround sun-bright vale there Small stream descends in - glistening cascade Over above In - slow closing distance Land rises to - overlook languid fen Our destination - draws our steps on to Reach barrow slopes - fields of wider ken So measured pace continues ‘til then While spirit moves to hilltop ascend 3rd MOVEMENT Minuet & Trio: TRACKS THROUGH TIME Sand and pebbles of this stoney way Made a shore on warm Jurassic sea Heathland barrows rising that we see High dune desert, by great ocean bay Where the thrush and warbler sweetly sing Over gardens - flowers set in line In a span of geologic time Pterodactyls soared on scaly wing Trails mid purple heather fronds touch light Cross pine hurst with gorse in blossom gold Wiley hunter tracked in days of old Forest tiger, brazen eyes burned bright Tracks through time Forever refine Creation’s tale sublime 4th Movement FINALE: Sonnet in Major Key Above the brightening vale in sun reborn The barrow braes are clothed as we behold Amid green pines the gorse and broom adorn With blossoms swathing heath in cloth of gold Below: the tarn’s once dark and baleful mien Is now transformed with shining silver face Neath damsel sapphire jewels in flickering gleam Framed by a garland amber bracken lace Now Nature flags the sign to all its kin No longer to hold back its life elan But flourish without caution and begin The annual great cycle - sacred plan The cast of strife-thrown shadows on our days Shall be as life’s great rhythms: passing phase