The ‘beauty’ of ‘feeling’

We all have our favourite places. The beach. The backyard. The park that overlooks the hills that roll  as far as you can see. In this exercise, imagine you are at your favourite place (or perhaps you can go there). Now, try to get lost in the moment and feel the beauty that is around you. Remember, use your senses. Feel free to write what you like. A poem, a song, a short paragraph or even just a sentence or a few words that sum up what you feel. This poem, ‘The Farmer’ shows how simple observations can leave such meaningful impressions.

THE FARMER by Anne Bell

He’d been a farmer all his life-

hadn’t made much money,

wasn’t much good at keeping accounts;

but knew how moist loam crumbled between the finger tips;

how the sickle of hawk’s wings followed the flow

of furrow and hill and sky;

how magpies sang as pure as dew

on autumn days

and frost set fire to stars.

Saw the crouched hares stilled in windy crops,

and how fingers of morning light

found the hollow and round of solid cows

in the thinning mist.

And sometimes, he’d lean on the gate,

his foot on the bottom rail,

and look at his land-

and then, it seemed

the green wheat spoke to him.