Ode to the stones by Glyn Hughes

2003

Above many of the towns are
boulders that stimulate a mystical awareness,
touchstones to a state of being
when beneath the stars, or in the hot sun
with heather blooming
but few look up and fewer climb
out of CoughValley, out of Carcinogen Clough.

Though when trying to forge one simple truth —
to integrate the wandering spirit —
that is where to be;
where anchoring the fluid skies
have hardly marked them.
Which is why they bear the names
of myths and archetypes,
Ludd’s, or Saint Bridie’s stones.