SHEEP AND SCAFELL PIKE
the full view of Scafell Pike is well earned. There are none of the classic walking routes here, either. But, armed with a good map, visitors can invent their own walks, in the reasonable certainty that they might accomplish the walk in the company of none but their chosen companion and some hardy sheep. Much like me (in so many ways), Wordsworth was a fan of Duddon Valley. He wrote a book of sonnets that has been largely neglected ever since, the public more interested to learn of daffodils by Ullswater and what goes on on Waterloo Bridge. The neglect of these works reflects, in a way, the lack of attention that their subject gets and also the neglect of my limericks. At the start of the poems, the river rises in the mountains, “a Child of the clouds.” At the end of the sonnets, it “sinks into the deep.” The journey
is symbolic of our lives. And in this final sonnet, Wordsworth contemplates the lot of humans on this earth: While we, the brave, the mighty, and the wise, We Men, who in our morn of youth defied The elements, must vanish;--be it so! Couldn’t have put it better myself. Instead, here’s a limerick. It’s almost as good as Wordsworth. There once was a far distant valley Whose stream could make man’s spirits rally. It reaches the sea At nearby Kirkby, A somewhat unfitting finale. Boom. Take that William. Stick to the daffs in future mate.
PATH IN DUNNERDALE September & October 2018
045_IM_CHP_PUB_SEPOCT2... page 9
Inside Magazine, Chingford and Highams Park
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Saturday, 11 August 2018 10:02 Cyan Magenta Yellow Black