Walking with the old man across the paddock
These were the best times
On a farm its the air and the soil where you’re most comfortable
Just the kiss of breeze and the click/tick of the earth
We were often wary of each other, but walking together we were calm/quiet
Though we walked with purpose – to check the stock or the fences or something – we breathed easily
Quietly searching the landscape
I saw an odd stone and bent to lift it
Dark and dense and heavy – one end round and smooth, the other chipped and sharp
“An axe!” I exclaimed and held it up for my father to see
He took it from me and tossed it – “there are plenty of those around” he said
I was knocked – not sure what I’d done to be so dismissed – stupid to be so interested in something so mundane perhaps? I had no idea
But the land was changed for me – and I felt it was secret business somehow –
Not that I could have explained it then,
But it was like the land was peopled in a way it hadn’t been before
The land and air had been walked upon and breathed for centuries beyond our paltry 15 years
bob's songs 