St Cuthbert's Well

Colton

After a slow start I headed off to Flusco with my recycling in a bit of dream so it didn't occur to me that the Road Closed sign might refer to the road I was on. I ended up on a merry dance around Dacre, Spark't, Thackth't and Hutton. At every turn I was met with a Road Closed but no helpful diversion or alternative route signs. This little maze of tiny roads can be disorientating. Each sign said, Find an Alternative Route. Oh, the symbolism. So I then went off on another nearly wild goose well chase in search of a well I've tried to find before. It was lashing down over Kirkstone and through the Lakes but once at the other end of Coniston the sun was beginning to emerge and I ventured into a remote area that I would never have found if it wasn't for well hunting. What an idyllic area and this time, with a little perseverance, it offered up St Cuthbert's well just a short distance down the hill from St.Cuthbert's Church. The water was used for baptisms and still looked nice and clear.

Breath by Don Paterson - translation of Rilke from 'Orpheus'

Breath, you invisible poem -
pure exchange, sister to silence,
being and its counterbalance,
rhythm wherein I become,
ocean I accumulate
by stealth, by the same slow wave;
thriftiest of seas... Thief
of the whole cosmos! What estates,
what vast spaces have already poured
through my lungs? The four winds
are like daughters to me.
So do you know me, air, that once sailed through me?
You, that were once the leaf and rind
of my every word?