[This is three walking poems in one, charting three days of weather and the response of the herd of cattle in the fields around Toddington Grange, in the changeable autumn of 2018. Unusually for a walking poem it has a title. It followed on the third day's poem, after the three separate poems, written separately in chronological sequence, became one.]
“The Grange, Over Three Days”
The herd is gathered in the second field from the house
Already hot in the mid morning sun,
At rest, not even outlier sentries standing;
Under a quiet and tumulus grey sky and a glorious wind
The cattle are standing,
And a light-coloured bull calf leaps across the field;
Mid morning, blue sky and slight wind. Warm autumn sun.
Mixed coloured cattle lie close to the ground,
In line, parallel to the stream,
And broadside to the breeze.
Their scent of being fills the whiteness of the columned house beyond
With the 18th century
From which it’s come.
[Compare Walking Poem 2018-09-24 Today the herd is broken into a long line]