Today I walk the South Downs Way
With my childhood hand-in-hand,
For memories through my mind do sway
Of those summers long ago.
And still, the bright flowers adorn the grass,
The daisy and buttercup bold,
Which pave the pathway as I pass,
With the tiny speedwell swaddled.

    The exquisite orchid quietly speckles
The slopes and shady banks,
A delicate purple with crimson freckles,
Scattered sparsely below butterflies of blue.
    Skippers dither with the marbled white
And the joyful fritillary,
Whilst a dragonfly swoops with all his might
As busy bees tumble and hum.

    High above, a twittering lark
Celebrates the gift of flight,
With an explosion of song he makes his mark,
Below a scorching sun.
    The horizon it runs to a distant sea,
Kissed by a cloudless sky
And eternity’s landscape is given to me
From the Ridgeway’s endless track.

    And so upon this solstice day
The chalk giant guards the hill,
From his verdurous slope along the Way
Above the corn and poppy red.
And now I watch the blushed sun splash
My view with dusk’s bright splendour,
As chattering swifts, they chase and dash
Up into the evening wind.

    The pure light of morning meets a landscape white with snow
And the winding stream, once busy, now into ice does flow,
On the horizon there is a lull, which under a blanket of grey does lie-
The only sounds are raucous rooks, flocking in the fields near by.

    Excited children peep through the frosted windowpane,
For to build a snowman in the garden, firstly is their aim,
Then, to gather all the evergreens and hang high the mistletoe,
So with the wicker basket creaking, a-collecting they do go.
    For a girl, the trailing ivy and for a boy, the holly leaf,
Studded with scarlet berries, they curve and twist into a wreath.
The farmhouse kitchen, then, they deck along the old, oak beam
And in the candlelight the horse brasses and copper saucepans gleam.
    The marbled moon retires from a freezing ink-blue sky,
As the North Star winks and twinkles as Christmas Eve draws nigh,
The Yule log has been kindled from the embers of the old
And the hearth is now an amber blaze to chase away the cold.
    There’s the sweetest smell of pine from the shimmering, festive tree,
And on the table is the finest food, a feast for all to see-
Oranges and almonds, honey-ham and sugar mice,
Mince pies and chocolate truffles, hot punch with cider and spice.
    The singers greet the doorway with the mummers dressed to cheer,
And the resonant ring of the great church bells, then they gladly hear,
So with their lanterns a-swinging, to the village they all go,
As the windows of stained glass in the darkness brightly glow.

    The sweet notes of the carols steal the silence of this night,
Then softly, once more, the snowflakes fall, magical in their flight.
    Piles of parcels sparkle to the sound of a distant sleigh-
For passed has Father Christmas, bringing forth the joyous day!