The Wooded Lands
Wooded lands of Bristol
Image | Charlie Rawson
“The Woodedlands”
A poem by Charlie Rawson | Travel with Charlie Rawson
The wooded lands are calling, bold and gentle on the wisest wind,
with the fairies and wisps I’ll rest, to drift amid the scores.
I’m drawn from a scattered moment onto this steady dampened floor.
Here beneath the canopy of trees, myriad leaves crest the waves of sky
So I nestle down between bracken and coral.
This skin is cool to touch, but soon warmed to take bed and lie.
A changing current breaks the surface and
this body wallows with the pulse of a tide turning.
I walked here, seeking the mother woodland tongue,
and I am provided for.
The nights are short, but in this embrace the darkness sits quietly alongside the brightest day.
It won’t be long now.
Mushrooms, field and fierce, rise up here when the warmth may soon slip away.
These lucid frolicking voices tickle the breeze upon the wing,
Rustle under the fallen leaves to sweep and replace form.
I am both drowned and reborn.
Filled with time and suspended within this animation of tiny movements.
Every thing and every body,
leaning,
lifting,
holding,
falling.
A constant resonance from beginning to end.
This is the land my ancestors felt between their toes,
and the fairies remember their cwtch,
a refuge gathering our physicalities up,
and woven into
touch
to be held from within, the forest tunes in and up,
The hours unfurl into years.
Saplings see the range of limbs; intermingled, nestle and settle.
Yet it billows through me.
Fallow in, mulch on and reform into,
a mighty multitude of being
standing, allowing, graciously becoming.
Owing them everything, the roots, where the tiny doorways lead.
Placing one hand into the folds of an older beech tree,
we pause together,
it’s fibers ride the bridle, she has stood here for longer than I will know.
a woman,
a tree.
both move and are moved
as the leaves drop over shadows.
Autumn Tree
Image | Charlie Rawson
Charlie Rawson lives in Bristol, England, and has visited, worked or studied in 33 countries so is an experienced and vibrant traveller and teacher. With Celtic blood and a love of culture and languages, she continues these passions through hiking, guiding and writing. She is available for UK and European tours (Travel with Charlie Rawson), and for those unable to travel, Charlie offers virtual tours throughout the UK. She also writes personalized travel poetry recapturing your treasured travel memories. Charlie hosts global travel planning sessions and leads classes in wellbeing for healthy and happy travels. You can follow Charlie on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
