Week 4 of distancing

Monday.
Thirty-five years ago, on Holy Saturday, my daughter was born. Here’s a page from my one-off book Metamorphosis.

Today I found a moss-garden where the Mendip bedrock broke the surface. It reminded me of the Easter gardens I used to make with my grandmother, from moss and stones and the smallest of spring flowers.

Tuesday.
250 years ago, Wordsworth was born,

Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory

And today this arrived. By post. From the world outside! And it’s so beautiful I cried. Two little books in each other’s arms.

Wednesday.
In the morning I had my first experience of using Zoom. Did this thing even exist before the lockdown? Now we are all using it. A friend warns me that the CIA can hear every word. They are welcome, I tell her. Are they interested in poetry?
On our afternoon walk I spotted this face in a Metasequoia glyptostroboides beside the moat. What rough beast?

Thursday.
The cathedral is closed to humans, but a pair of ravens is nesting among the ruined saints.

Meanwhile, at Sumburgh Head, puffins are nesting. Easter time nine years ago I was there to witness some of the first puffins arriving. Someone (not I) made this book during that blissful weekend with Rachel Hazell at Bressay lighthouse.

Friday.
Bluebells have joined the celandines and wood anemones in Park Wood.

Saturday.
The friend I dreamed about last night rang me today.
I found an April landscape in a sheet of zinc (homage to @maryfrancesness.)

Easter Sunday.
On the phone, my son’s excited voice: number 20 is just hatching before my eyes! Loud cheeping in the background. I am almost as excited about my tomato seedlings that have come up overnight. I salvaged the seeds from a rotten tomato only a week ago and sowed them in a seed-tray with scant hope that they would germinate. And the chickpeas that showed no more than bent white necks last week are six inches high.

I’m not, generally speaking, a fan of hymns, but this one has a haunting tune borrowed from a 15th century French carol. Many versions are available, including this Swedish one.