Off-road Afternoon

We followed that off-road of dandelion freckled sod

Right out toward the ledge of blue and green twixt earth and God

Where free, forgotten apple trees scattered pink-petal mirth

To dapple emerald petticoats in pure abandoned mirth

And lilac plumes from gardens lost tossed perfume to the breeze

In beauty bold, unhampered by the bloom of centuries

We walked where willow awning whispered noonday lullabies

…where sun-soft sigh was spawning daisy-dreams and butterflies

And where brook-song meandered we followed its glossy glee

Through meadowland and coppice, beguiled by its melody

Camber of grassland ‘gainst the hue of heaven’s sanguine smile

Drew us onto the knee of nature’s nurturing a while

And here we watched the afternoon stroll into twilight’s trance

Beneath the curve of quarter-moon daylight and darkness dance

Until dusk's solemn postlude splays star-froth on onyx deeps

And we must go back to the flow that works and plays and sleeps

But long we will remember dandelion freckled sod

And that off-road we wandered to the very heart of God

© Janet Martin