The Road from Abergavenny

[atiguhya padma]

This is the road from Abergavenny
It dives through the hills like a bird of prey
It hides from the sun in Llanthony woods
And then spreads its wings in the town of Hay

These are the ruins of the old Abbey
The decay of an age seen from afar
Shadows live in its intricate corners
Ale flows in its subterranean bar

We came through Ledbury, market town,
Fine buildings, a poetry festival,
We had plum ice cream in Mrs Muffins
The sun made us feel almost beautiful

The tudor walls of those old town houses
Line each narrow lane, like a procession
Sounds of our steps upon the hot cobbles
Wither in a languid imprecision

We came through the back roads of Oxfordshire
Following a route mapped out long ago
And Adlestrop seemed so close to our world
One smooth poetic harmonious flow

That morning we woke before the sunrise
Kissed the cat goodbye, and then we were gone
We left our town for the wide open road
The waves of wheatfields, ripples of sun.

And here we are now in Greenwich Market
A stall of old photos, maps, the odd book,
The smell of the food from lands of the East
We file through items, scarce stopping to look

Then there it is, as if it has found us,
That feeling you get when you are winning
Now that 1930’s book of the road
Brought us to the end - at the beginning.

[Isagel]

I sit at work and read this, and it´s like taking a break and a nice walk. I like it.

I realise that the parts I like most about it isn´t the landscape but the description of what the people in it do
" We had plum ice cream in Mrs Muffins
The sun made us feel almost beautiful" - I love that line.

and this:
"That morning we woke before the sunrise
Kissed the cat goodbye, and then we were gone"

and the part about the footsteps echoing.