At Sharpenhoe - Begin1
Lee Nelson
Take the slow track
loaded with sloes, track2
the track less travelled3
up the hill’s back
up the Clappers
Up to the space on top
warrened beneath and
honeycombed with tunnels in the air
passages from here to there
Look down and look across
the troughs
of the town now gone
now all there is
up here for us
is
secret and time
perspective and time
time-wind-stretched sun-seeking branches reach out
for Barton, Shillington, Silsoe
and beyond to Clophill, even Wixams, Bedford
A touch of class
to measure ourselves against
to keep our working anger sharp
1Sharpenhoe Clappers, local lore holds it was used by the Romans as a kind of larder, stuffed full of rabbits and nettles; still plenty of nettles. The lower slopes are wooded, then there is a band of grass before a cathedral of trees on top. It can be cold and lonely up there, always windy, it can be beautifully private – sit in a tree on the northern edge of the crown, ears full of that wind and watch Bedfordshire roll away before you. Sharpenhoe was the first hill I climbed with my dad, when I was about 7 or 8 years old. We always climbed the back of the hill, the carpark on the other side was for tourists and dog-walkers.
2Masefield
3Frost
