The Cockpit

on Askham Fell

This morning a call to my sister, then into town to get some filler for the wall which is proving to need more than just a lick of paint. I wasn’t up to doing any more painting so made some soup whilst waiting for my friend and her husband and we braved a soggy walk. Here I was introducing my friend to Lancelot, the stone knight of the round circle who I adopted years ago. We retreated to The Sun for a pint and even on such a grotty evening it was still light after 6.

Whenever I go up here in these conditions I always think of Wordsworth seeing the hare that inspired part of his poem about the Leechgatherer ... the earth was jolly ‘plashy’ today.

from Resolution and Independence - William Wordsworth

There was a roaring in the wind all night;
The rain came heavily and fell in floods;
But now the sun is rising calm and bright;
The birds are singing in the distant woods;
Over his own sweet voice the Stock-dove broods;
The Jay makes answer as the Magpie chatters;
And all the air is filled with pleasant noise of waters.

All things that love the sun are out of doors;
The sky rejoices in the morning's birth;
The grass is bright with rain-drops;—on the moors
The hare is running races in her mirth;
And with her feet she from the plashy earth
Raises a mist, that, glittering in the sun,
Runs with her all the way, wherever she doth run.