Wilding

Patina melting into wood, hydrangea sapped, skeletal drop - was cottage pink or iron blue? Fond fountain pen, Quink laid to rest, long superseded, Wilding stamp, fear Machin corner, older crown.

Tuppence to Chagford, in her thatch, from Newton Abbott, 59; warm beer at Ring of Bells, chime lost, ramrod, her cycle to the church for Mrs Goodale, Dartmoor edge, the children paddling, River Teign.

Two decades past her days were wild, her middle age mixed WAAFs around, moved Harrogate to Buckingham, Spitfires and Park, enigma found; but Bletchley changed to Milton Keynes, new town, moved world, though tors remain.

And so retreat, hall corner chest, her past ingrained, bees wax as seal, the floriography of age; before class slowed her envelopes, the rich in castle, poor at gate, when all was bright and beautiful.

First Published by Creative Writing Ink