Earth Pathways Showcase

The seed case protects the possibilities
of what is to come, still needing nurturance
and to be shielded from cold.

Seeds hold the wisdom and learning
of all the seeds that have been before,
bringing all their energy to this dormant life,

waiting quietly for enough rainbow days to grow
and become, the cycle continuing,
blessing giving birth to blessing.

Seeds © Eleanor Westwood 2021

As the day begins in the dark and the seed in
the soil the year begins in winter
honouring the north, the night, the earth.

The freshly-washed sky greets us between leafless branches
which bicker for the sun's attention
for a seam of warmth and the chance to throw shadows.
Long-tailed tits chatter in the brambles.

Truly one season carries the germ of the next,
buds have already formed on the chestnut and hazel
and some catkins brave the chilled air.
Soon the winter heliotrope with its blackcurrant scent,
impossibly summery, will lap against the path.
In this mild climate winter doesn't gnash its teeth.

But we mark it, we mark it within
with a bow to the ancestors,
a blessing for those who will greet the winter after us
and their descendants stretching forward into time and grace.

Welcoming the Winter © Eleanor Westwood 2020

Hope
is what is left
when everything else is lost

And when you are scrabbling around in the dust
trying to blow on the embers of the fire
You realise that the ground you have fallen onto
is love.

Under the hard baked earth there is a richer soil
alive with roots drawing up living water
The bud on the twig swells in the darkness
The furthermost root drinks from the earth

The crescent moon sails across the
forest like a coracle h
olding a promise.

Hope © Eleanor Westwood 2014