THE GOSPEL PASS
For T
It’s a path, actually. Literally.
Across the black Mountains, their purpling crevasses
are dotted with minuscule, wooly ponies, scrawny sheep on their Celtic massif,
mown like a bowling green
in the wintry sky;
since the great slabs of Ice retreated, carving the glaciers and gullies
- like silk, like silt - with primordial water and time.
We trek the immemorial track,
following the antique way and law:
so tiny, so true - in every sense;
its essence, lonely and idiosyncratic - just stick to it for the duration!
There are treacherous bogs and dangers on every side;
glorious, swooping slopes falling
to unseen bluey distances,
or to wild and hasty waters gushing
from the heights, like quicksilver.
Every inch, inspiration and alarm.
It’s the loftiest, longest stretch of
tarmac in Wales;
no wonder: built ontop of a continuity of experiential faith,
ever mobile, alert - whether rugged biker, walker, shepherd, itinerant monk or nosy-parker venturer
looking for Light, refuge
or imaginary shortcuts
across impassible ranges;
a nice sunday afternoon drive, even!
With no inkling of the surprises, risks, glory and time it takes
in that barely mapped wilderness
where no guarantee, sat nav
or surety can be relied upon
- apart from the bumpy, little track.
On the spot, O intrepid traveler -
that's all you’ve got - each moment,
blind corner, pot-hole, fallen tree or
land-slid bank.
Sheer be-ing, presence in action.
Little wonder, the Augustinians
found their medieval way there
and settled at Llanthony where the Honddu gathers pace, tumbling down the craggy Ewyas vale
once home to wolf and deer
- e’en Auroch, I vouch!
Descending from the tops,
not far from Offa’s ancient boundary some sign of remote human presence appear
: shed, sheep-fold, crumbled walling;
then the odd derelict farmstead, gate-way,
further on, to habitations with evidence of barn, chimneys, wood-stacks
and wheel-marks; then a horse…
and then, O my! A tiny red-brick village hall crunched into the bank
with a faded timetable and parking for 3.
Community begins - with no glimpse of a dwelling in sight.
Though I know, at Capel Y Fyn
there’s a teeny chapel with a teddy bear by way of parishioner.
Dec 2023