Festive ribbons of stone 'gift-wrap' the countryside
They tie the landscape into tidy bundles, looping the terrain in holiday cheer
The walls create an ever present, ever distant present
They decorate the grateful fields along their borders and well beyond
Charming lines, flowing strands, set in place long ago by gifted hands
A linear design upon the land
A medley of melodies laid out in stone
A mosaic created to explore the undulations of the earth
A sculptural contour-map
A tidy vista enveloping all in a lyrical tapestry
A hilly motif of borders, hedges, fencerows held in place by time and friction
I see an ordered pattern in these random tracts of stones
Shaped and dressed
Fitted and aligned and stacked
Endless gifts of a smiling-piling benefactor
In preparation for some future celebration of nature.
