We Remember You
Oh you spirits of the hedgerow,
Great & small, mostly unseen,
Sharp clawed, curled presences
Of feather & fur, scale & scape
Dark little eyes awoken before dawn today;
We remember you, we know you,
We think of you!
Oh you waves of winter birds
Come from the north, the east:
Redwing, fieldfare, woodcock, lapwing;
Dark duck, goose skein, starling,
Here you are again upon our fields, our hills & our pools;
We remember you, we know you,
We think of you!
Oh you forgotten ones,
Around your fires, feasting,
Watching the great winter come & go
Through millennia of the hunt,
Following the song lines of your & our ancestors;
We remember you, we know you,
We think of you!
Oh you drover-men of oxen
Faring far along the ridge-land
Road from before there were roads
Eyes searching the horizon, the woods edge,
For wolves, some of them human;
We remember you, we know you,
We think of you!
Oh you armies on the march
Come to conquer,
Kill or enslave the land-people,
With your leather boots & helmets,
With your shields & spears;
We remember you, we know you,
We think of you!
Oh you herders, tenant-farmers & parishioners
Going out of your way
To attend the gathering, to pay your dues
Some rising in the dark,
Some spending nights away from home;
We remember you, we know you,
We think of you!
Oh you stout men
With your boots & your pipes,
Your breeches & hats, with your dogs at your feet,
Taking your breakfast,
Exchanging news, doing business at the table;
We remember you, we know you,
We think of you!
Oh you twentieth century people
Who came on your bikes & in your buses & cars
In your overcoats & wellies
To stand upon the hill
& celebrate your heritage;
We remember you, we know you,
We think of you!
We are the fortunate ones
Free to choose how & where & when we assemble here
To come, go & speak as we please
Our freedoms hard won for us
By those who fought for them before us;
We remember you all, we know you all,
We think of you all, we thank you all!
Wroth Silver!
http://www.wrothsilver.org.uk/
2014: Martinmas
2015: The Road of Time
2016: Wheel of the Year, Wheel of the Land
2017: Eight Decades
2018: Ghosts
2019: Throw a Penny in the Hollow of the Stone
2020-21 Dear Ancestors
2022: The End of an Era
2023: In the Picture, Making History
2024: The Knight Within the Low
