A guided tour
Where would I go to show you what I love?
Which tree to see among these woods?
You’d need shoes to walk, less talk required,
quiet and alert the watch words, listen to the birds,
the singing in the silence, the ringing
of water bells, the smells
of damp earth, all worth lingering by.
We’ll walk the lane in May, stay awhile
where the stream crosses, a mean country bridge,
a simple track, then back
into meadow where orchids blow.
Will we go up the hill
leave the lane? The plain is below
where the river lies, blue-snaking like skies
of spring. I’ll bring you to the path
to the mere. I’ve stood here
so many times, listening to the chimes
of the orioles’ song. They belong,
not we.
Jane Dougherty
Bio and Links
Jane Dougherty
lives and works in southwest France. A Pushcart Prize nominee, her poems and stories have been published in magazines and journals including Ogham Stone, the Ekphrastic Review, Black Bough Poetry, ink sweat and tears, Gleam, Nightingale & Sparrow, Green Ink and Brilliant Flash Fiction. She blogs at https://janedougherty.wordpress.com/ Her poetry chapbooks, thicker than water and birds and other feathers were published in October and November 2020.
The Wombwell Rainbow 