On Diamond Hill

I didn’t
think of you once
as I climbed

past stunted willows
straggles of gorse
there was

no burning bush
but when
light poured through

each stone step
glittered
and I heard

crystals of song
spilling
from pipits’ throats

it wasn’t
until I got back
that I sensed

I’d met you
half-way up
where the ghost grass

quivered
and I recognised
your voice

in the chanting
of wind
on the moor

and my tears
welled up
like bog water

Elizabeth Barton is Stanza rep for Mole Valley Poets and facilitate creative writing workshops, such as a forthcoming one entitled, Portals into the Psyche: how fairy tales can enrich our writing. Her debut poetry pamphlet, If Grief were a Bird, was published in 2022 by Agenda Editions. Glimpses of Wilderness, a collaborative book of tanka poetry, art and natural history, was launched just before Christmas.