Following on from the previous post announcing EcoDay and the arrival of the potting shed, here’s the richly beautiful poem by our own Gordon Wilson, beginning with a few words by the poet himself:
“Shalom” was written especially for East Marsh United’s Eco Day and to mark the opening of the new Shalom Potting Shed in the grounds of the church of St Stephen and St John. The poem acknowledges landscape changes, human migrations and the establishment of community in and around this space. It focuses on ideas of occupation and growth before, during, and since human arrivals; and looks forward, with optimism and hope to the continuing cultivation of land, spirit and neighbourhood in this place.
Shalom
Hello
Peace
Welcome
To this space where once was marsh
that spread from the Humber to the Wash.
Marsh that swelled twice daily
as saltwort and samphire rustled
with passage of otters and voles,
echoed with toads.
Where cattle grazed and egrets stalked.
Where lapwing, goose and curlew fed
in sunshine and through storm.
Then
came the hard-core and the tar, the slabs and slates
and billions of bricks made homes
for those that came from Denmark and Russia,
from Brixham and Kent,
from all of England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales.
This patch was blessed and named for a man
famed for feeding widows in need;
St Stephen, first of martyrs, miracle worker.
Folk came to pray.
Here they were christened,
confirmed, married and mourned—
fishers and traders,
box-makers, braiders and smokers of fish.
Now
we look again,
to say a new Shalom.
New welcome
to fragrances and colours
of feverfew and bedstraw,
valerian and campion,
meadowsweet and sorrel.
New peace
Let’s make this East Marsh potting shed
a seed bed for great growth.
From this new garden
let green corridors reach across this marsh
renewing us, the air, the earth, our spirits.
Let us grow with it.
Let toddlers wonder at returning flights
of butterflies and bees that fuel our endeavours.
Let teenagers pick strawberries
while they watch the world unfold.
Let families gather food from their own labours,
amidst the the flutter and hum
of a newly scented air.
Shalom
Gordon Wilson
