Before the farmer and I married in 1993 I would often walk across the fields from my cottage towards the farm, hoping to meet him as he walked up to the pasture to gather the cows in for the evening milk. Sometimes I would walk back with him and stand and chat as he milked his girls and then walk back to the field with him.
When he collected them he would move the electric fence giving them new grass after the evening milking. If I missed him I would gather up a few flowers from the grass or the hedge-bottom, tie them into a bunch with a strand of grass and hang them on the electric wire, knowing he would find them.
Here is a poem I wrote about it:
Message on a wire.
There is a stillness in your field:
Not a silence
(for the mistle-thrush sings
on the topmost bough
of the hawthorne tree,
and the beck finds its voice
as it slips over the stones
in the South meadow.)
But a stillness
from long ago
when the grass was first sown
and peppered with wild flowers
in their season.
One day in July
the stillness would be broken,
the grass would be mown,
tossed, dried in the sun, smelt
and carted away to the stack.
Then the stillness would return.
Men who care for fields
feel that stillness,
(It soaks into their bones)
become that stillness,
protected, cocooned
within the confines of the walls.
I walked across your field today.
I could leave you a message
on your answer-phone.
Or I could leave
two buttercups, a herb-robert
and a cuckoo flower, tied
with a strand of grass,
hanging on the fence.
Either way
and you will know
I love you.
That's a neat story of the beginning of a great relationship.
ReplyDeleteOh, Pat, how sweetly heartwarming!
ReplyDeleteHugs!
Absolutely lovel;y. XXXXX
ReplyDeleteBeautiful. Xx
ReplyDeleteA beautiful poem for a beautiful relationship. Thank you for sharing it with us.
ReplyDeleteSo lovely.
ReplyDeleteSo very beautiful! Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteLinda from Alabama
Awwww. That is really lovely.
ReplyDeleteI’m gonna cry…
ReplyDeleteHow romantic and a beautiful poem.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet story, Pat! Lovely poem!
ReplyDeleteTha "answer phone" line grates with me every time I read it but it is so long since I wrote it - and read it to him - that I feel it is too late to chaange it now.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful way to profess your love for your farmer!
ReplyDeleteJust lovely. Your Farmer was like my Mountain Man.
ReplyDeleteWe have good memories don't we.
Lovely. I was wondering if you left the poem for him to read, or read it to him then, or if you kept the poem to yourself for a while. Thanks for answering that. So sweet and tender. - Pam.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lucky man he was. I am sure he knew that. Thank you for sharing this, Pat.
ReplyDeleteLovelyxxxBarbarax
ReplyDeleteI remember my husband driving us back home after a wonderful day out, with our two tired little boys in the back seat, and closing my eyes and thinking, “I am so happy - I must never forget this.” I think of that moment, and others like it, and treasure them, for time has flown, my boys are grown with children of their own and my dear husband has passed away.
ReplyDeleteI think your beautiful poem is like my memory - your own stillness of time and place, to step back into whenever you choose. I don’t think you need to change the words. They are perfect, encapsulating exactly how it was then, and because of your poem, always will be.
Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteSo touching and heartfelt. Thank you for sharing. Jackie
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your beautiful poem. It is part of the love story you had with your farmer. You shared a lovely life together.
ReplyDeleteI love this. I picture a quiet man listening to a poem of love about himself. How very nice.
ReplyDeleteLovely.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderfully rich life you have lived Pat, and lived fully and 'intentionally'. Memories to treasure now your dear farmer is gone. A lovely poem, and you've left me with such a vivid image of wild flowers on a wire fence. Thank you. You certainly are an inspiration
ReplyDeleteYou old romantic. What a lovely gesture. Lucky man.
ReplyDeleteVwey romantic, lovely and truly beautiful. Thank you for sharing this with us.
ReplyDeleteA private moment.
ReplyDeleteA moment of happiness remembered.
ReplyDeleteHow lovely. Your poem made me cry, how wonderful to find a second love, what an adventure, proving love can come calling at any time. You have been blessed with two good men. Regards Sue H
ReplyDeleteDon’t think you are not a poet, you are. Like the last poem you shared, that was beautiful. Opening your blog each morning, feels like a little present to start the day. Thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteDear Pat, would you please share your story of how you and your farmer met? Reading between the lines, I think you were already retired from teaching, so what took you to that part of the country?
ReplyDeleteJust lovely! What a nice way to start my day. I look forward to your posts each morning. You always remind me to be grateful for each moment.
ReplyDeleteThank you all.
ReplyDeleteQuite a lovely poem. A real sense of place.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful poem - so full of love and as hart said, a sense of place.
ReplyDeleteJust beautiful
ReplyDelete