On Pilgrimage
a morning-fresh aroma from the compost steaming in the cool air
i descend the mountain just so i can climb it yet again
through fog as soft as the moss acorns clattering down
the sun’s already out in the valley for the annual farm show
and above the gap the first broad-winged hawks of the day
spiral high around a column of rising heat then hurtle south
while a long rumbling line of tractors snakes through the fields
they used to say rogation was good for the crops
even bullshit walks on six legs bit by bit into the earth
Another day, another poem. Thanks to my brother Mark for the bird info and the Sinking Valley Facebook page for the farm show info. Rogation was/is a Catholic ritual with parallels in folk religions around the world, a form of annual pilgrimage in which a priest leads a procession of local residents in a circuit of the fields.