Have I met an Angel? What Muse, from Zeus, is this?
Is she Euterpe or Erato who melts me with a kiss?
I walked among the beechwood trees, alone in Burgum Wood.
Behind me cracked a dry spent twig, I turned and there she stood.
She appeared just like a vision, from where I could not tell.
She smiled at me with sparkling eyes, then cast her magic spell.
I stopped and stared and stuttered. I flustered like a fool.
Although the height of summer, the air grew strangely cool.
And then she stood beside me. I forced a faint "hello".
My pounding heart grew louder. She turned as if to go.
"Come walk with me," I heard her say, a softness in her voice.
Then a calmness overcame me, and then I had no choice.
We didn't talk, we neither spoke. The air smelt sweet and good,
My worries far behind me that day in Burgum Wood.
The pathway wound and curved its way through a dark and leafy glade,
Where a clearing stood beside us and a sea of bluebells laid.
She said "I know why you are here alone; your heart is filled with grief,
And you've been dealt a mortal blow, at least that's your belief."
Alarmed, my heart beat wildly, my thoughts raced in my mind.
Tears welled up inside me. The truth seemed so unkind.
She knelt, then stood, and in her palm, revealed to me a stone.
"This pebble, too, demands your tears, for love its never known.
The answers are all around you. They're here for all to see,
And I'll show you what to look for, if you stay a while with me."
We walked a while in silence. The pathway led us on.
Rustling leaves played in the breeze and a song-thrush sang its song.
"Each life is like this pathway, winding though the trees,
And in its bends and twisting turns, the future no-one sees.
Such trails run throughout this wood, see here beneath your feet,
Just as two lives may touch, these winding pathways meet.
Perhaps to cross, encounter brief, perhaps to linger on.
Acquiesce to love and savour life, before the moments gone."
She pointed to a ray of light, a sunbeam filtered through.
"Look here," she said, and there I looked, and there a rose there grew.
As red a rose, I've never seen, each perfect petal fold,
Yet hidden here in Burgum Wood, such beauty left untold.
That sunbeam shone upon the rose, a droplet glistened there.
I raised a hand to touch it, and wondered if I dare.
"Be gentle with your loved one, you grieve for you're apart,
It cries a tear for you, my friend. Behold your lover's heart."
As on we walked, we quietly talked, the way ahead seemed bright.
"The end is drawing near", she said, as she stood against the light.
And standing there in silhouette, her form cast in the sun,
She turned, then smiled and took my hand, and I knew that we'd be one.
Before my eyes stood beauty. Burgum Wood, it stepped aside,
To show a rolling landscape, a patchwork countryside.
We walked from wood, waist high in wheat and there we came to lie,
And chatted of the way of things, while the day, it passed us by.
Drawing white, a silver pencil - sparkling bright and flying high,
Full of dreams of far of places - etched a line across the sky.
The corn swayed deep and gentle, the sky was blue and clear.
The gentle breeze of summer whispered quietly in my ear.
My eyes grew tired and heavy; the lazy sun had won.
I drifted into slumber, and then my dream was done.
Then the chilling air awoke me, a pinkish hue across the sky.
Long shadows stretched from Burgum Wood; the day about to die.
A melancoly spirit came to rest just where I lay,
And I knew before I turned to see, my Angel, gone away.
Oh lonely heart! Oh tearful soul, so empty and afraid.
The anguish of a broken man, the price of love, repaid.
Then a strangeness overtook me, and I viewed the world anew,
Looking down upon the thousands, and my understanding grew.
From high, I saw the tears of men, alone, but yet as one.
At war, or toiling in the fields, their struggle left unsung.
And here was I, just one man; a broken heart to bear,
While the world called out for mercy and no one left to care.
I bade farewell to the field of corn and walked back through the wood,
Knowing I would never find again, these places where we'd stood.
As darkness fell among the trees, so shadows filled my mind,
And my memories grew hazy; images, ill-defined.
But I'd held my Angel's beauty and they could not take from me,
The magic of her haunting eyes, and all she'd made me see.
And as I stepped from Burgum Wood, I knew what I must do.
I strode with purpose, homeward. Those eyes belonged to you.