Those Who Lived Before

Velvet ripples of  land unfold

In shades of green and sometimes gold

What life must  there have been before

Beneath these hills and vales and shores.

Roman ruins at Vindolanda

Monoliths at Stonehenge

Tease the mind and make you wonder

How life was lived by those before

Oh how I love to yomp the land

My mind plays games, I see the life

Of those who lived so long ago

No modern ways just toil and strife

How did they  live and grow and die

What smells were there, what love

Was there , like yours, like mine?

For those who lived so long ago

Imagine how they worked the land

Made tools and clothes, grow food

It must have been an arduous life

what pressures they endured

And those who lived along the shores

Of this beautiful varied land

Who swam and fished and hunted thus

To live and strive for a different life

So when we next roam those hills

And wonder how it must have been 

Spare a thought for how they toiled 

To eat and live and breath