LAKE DISTRICT’S DRY STONE WALLS
Under a heather sky as morning breaks,
we trek the dales and clamber up the fells
near tarns and keeps and old stone walls. Our boots
crunch bracken, ferns and moss, while sheep
with sideline looks make way to let us pass.
Here stone age farmers, Celts and Norse
summoned spirits to layer slate stones,
crossing fields with Herdwick sheep, on high moors.
Listen, I think I hear the knights whisper.
Like the sorcerers of Hadrian’s Wall,
Stonehenge and the Pyramids, they quarried
the rocks for dry-stone walls, clutching
stones of quartz and granite.
As before, I think I hear the knights whisper.
They tell us tales of those who built stone walls
high in the fells in wind and rain and sun;
who sculpted slate on stone mid fragrant fern,
forever praying to some ancient force
that was and is and shall be evermore.
Madison, Connecticut
Carol Leavitt Altieri, 73, of Madison, Connecticut, is a retired teacher of literature and environmental studies. In 2010 she was preparing her fourth book for publication under the title Still Brooding on a Strong Branch. She has received numerous awards for her poetry. Carol enjoys her grandchildren, hiking, birding, photography, traveling, natural history, poetry and creative non-fiction. Her sign is Scorpio.