Frost on the paths through Bruntsfield, onto the Links and past the Plague Pits (which hold the secret seeds of future poems as well as long dead bodies). I walk through into the Meadows, the shimmering whisper of unseen birds above my head, though all I see are two jackdaws, their black glinting in the low sun. The same sun throws the trees into sharp relief, the upper branches red and glowing.
Later the Royal Mile, where a young woman twirls batons of fire while her companion drums, the primitive beat moving tourist feet along the slippery pavements. A detour down a side street to see the setting sun before diving inside to the poetry reading.
crescent moon hangs
above the reddened crags -
day fades.
Faded for Weekend Wordsmith
I also have a haiku up on Winter Haiku, you can read it here.
Don't forget my Book Giveaway, you can enter it here.
I love Walking for inspiration, find out more here.
6 comments:
as lways, i have thoroughly enjoyed your walk. would love to see it for myself one day...
I didn't know about the plague pits, thanks for enlightening me!
Since you inspired me to look for birds on the Meadows, I went out this morning and found the long-tailed tits again, and a treecreeper (which was equally impossible to photograph). I still haven’t managed to find a redwing yet this winter … have you? Where do they all hang out, I wonder?
Don’t you agree that jackdaws are the only cute members of the crow family, though? Jays are beautiful, as are magpies close up, carrion crows command our respect for their intelligence, but only jackdaws are cute!
Meanwhile I must look up those plague pits in Historic South Edinburgh …
Katherine - you're welcome, they're the sunken bits in the Links. Leith Links too.
Golebnik - glad you're finding more birds in the Meadows now. I agree jackdaws are the only cute crows. Redwings, i saw quite a lot in Dalkeith Country Park and loads from a train between Perth and Stirling, but none in the Meadows this year and i have been looking... it may have been redwings I heard yesterday, but i couldn't see any...
Ooh, I didn't know about the Plaque Pits and the Links, either! Very interesting, thanks for sharing!!
The constancy of the standard is really quite remarkable. This one I thought particularly good.
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