The Valley of Vast Fields

 

(Walk 51- Henley to Pangbourne- Written near the altar in St Mary’s Church, Rotherfield Greys- with Richard writing in the pews as well.)

 

Today, four of us walk across fields

Which the Time Out Book of Country Walks describes as ‘vast’

And we discuss how to define ‘Vast’

We say it is ‘that which has no limits.’

 

It is good to be home

Home in this measureless silence

Home in this church

With its intricate latticework around the altar

 

Waves of memory

Pictures of a past I shall not mention

Memorising the fact that Manifest Reality

Is here to enable us

To put the pieces of jigsaw puzzle together

Or rather, it is being put together

With or without us

Whether we’re awake or asleep

 

But the purpose of being awake is to be watchful

Watchful that even something like shame

This deep belief of having done something wrong

Is an orphan, a black sheep

That wants to be included ‘out there’- nurtured, shepherded

Before being let go,

Out into the fields of the Vast.

 

Consciousness, Silence, This-

Being Presence is like a tea infusion

The longer you steep in your own hot water

The more this flavour comes through.

 

(Note: Richard and I noticed later, the use of the word ‘Vast’ in Nicholas’s book seemed unique to the description of this particular walk.