Greenhead Ghyll

'Therefore, although it be a history
Homely and rude, I will relate the same
For the delight of a few natural hearts;
And, with yet fonder feeling, for the sake
Of youthful Poets, who among these hills
Will be my second self when I am gone.'
                               -Wordsworth, 'Michael'

So, from the public way we turned our steps
up 'the tumultuous brook of Green-head Ghyll'
-this August just at first parched boulders, cobwebbed
and dusty, there a grey feather resting,
and thornily overgrown. We parted branches,
bent and sweating; underneath the bridge
where houses crossed, barbed wire, corroded pipes
...