Stone Circle, Askham
Beth Bendrey
It would have been sacrilegious, once,
to sit here eating sandwiches,
bums on stones, exposed legs, orange peel,
dog marking the territory.
Miles up, did you think to appease the gods
with your red-faces and shortness of breath?
What ceremonies were here,
what stolen kisses, what dancing
in the simmer dim of midsummer
or the dark of the year´s end?
We scatter crumbs, pull on shoes and stand;
only the word ´car´ inclines the dog to effort.
Easy to lose yourself up here,
despite the app´s directions:
a maze of paths, false summits and rabbit trails
meandering with ponies, pipits
and people, people, people.
We find the car, haul ourselves
inside thinking coffee, cake, book.
The road takes us downward with
memories of air and sky,
light with possibility.
Bio-note
Beth Bendrey was born in the UK and grew up along the south coast of England. Moving to London in the late 80´s, she studied English and Education and worked with adults with learning difficulties. She was ordained in the Church of England in 2006, working amongst local Essex people in a variety of churches. Since 2020, she has lived and worked in Portugal, chaplain to English-speaking congregations in Lisbon and Estoril. This is a recent return to poetry-writing and she is enjoying turning journal scrawlings into something more succinct and finished.