Diana Webb

For Gerard Manley Hopkins

'You're not going to get to the bluebells, madam, not in shoes like that.'

It's rained for days and days and the woods in the grounds of the National Trust park are a long way off. We set out anyway, my grandchild in my daughter's backpack.

With the help of a piece of tree, found dropped along the mud-sheened slippery route, I reach our shining destination without a fall. We sit our precious little one among the flowers, where I snap him holding a single stalk.

'I do not think I have ever seen anything more beautiful,' wrote Gerard Manley Hopkins.

arched –
the axis
of a bell

As I write, the curves of a detached balloon, sky-hued, bob softly, silently against the air, touched by the tips of tiny fingers.

Note: quotation and 'found haiku' from the notebooks of Gerard Manley Hopkins.