The Fourth Ghost

A visit to the Croft Castle estate in north Herefordshire this morning. Much of the estate is closed due to the damage caused by Storm Darragh but we were able to walk in the walled gardens and to follow the ghost tree trail which has featured in previous blips. The fourth ghost tree is a Sweet chestnut dating from the 16th century and is particularly gnarly as you can see. The poet Sara-Jane Arbury describes it as "a carnival of ghosts, ghouls and gremlins". The more you look, the more faces you can see. I like her poem 'The Fourth ghost' which is modelled on the Witches' speech in Shakespeare's play Macbeth. The poem begins:

"With thanks to William Shakespeare,
Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble
Up I punch, from a circle of hell,
Magicked into being by a witch's spell;
Emboss my disorder on an organised land,
A cathedral of chaos, ogerish, grand"

The sixth line seems particularly appropriate.