Sadness

By Gordon MacLellan

There is a sadness that sits inside me,

Bedded in snug like a seed in the earth,

Tucked right in there beside the roots of my joy,

My delight in being

Able to sit here

Under the pine trees

At the top of the hill,

To feel this breeze

And see the trees

Crowding down the hill,

Dissolving into the mist.

Here I sit 

And simply, sit, 

Letting that sad seed grow.

It does not flower into grief

Or into a regret of rose-thorns.

It is simply a sorrow.

A flower of sighs.

And I need to let it grow,

Let the thistledown crown of it

Open and blow away.

Gordon is a storyteller and artist based in Buxton, Derbyshire, UK. As “Creeping Toad”, he works with groups to find ways of celebrating the relationships between people, places and wildlife. Recent work has included the Orkney Storytelling Festival, Nairn Book and Arts Festival, Buxton Festival Fringe and Buxton Museum and Art Gallery. 

Publications include Baba Yaga: tales of an old witch (Creeping Toad, 2024) and Waiting for the Snow (Creeping Toad, 2024) Sacred Animals (Green Magic Publishing, 2023), Old Stones And Ancient Bones (Creeping Toad, 2015), Homecoming #1, #2 and magazine pieces

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Website: www.creepingtoad.com

Blog: creepingtoad.blogspot.com

Social media: @creepingtoad