IT be the Bronze age on Dartmoor where I be living

The sky hasnt changed
Just a bit newer
To a passer by
4000 years ago who
Lived in the valley
Down by the grove
Not far from the Dart
Whose river of mauve
Of silver of gold every colour
On earth
Matching the peace
At the time of my birth

Our community was simple
We all lived off the land
Living close to GAIA
We soon could understand
The seasons and the sun and moon
And realised that we
Did appreciate the
Marvellous oaks that grew
Abundantly

There were acorns there were fungi
Mosses featured there
We found tin in the river
We learned to smelt
Aware
Of tin and copper
Melting it with fire
And making simple jewellery
To share with all the shire

Some of us were hunters
Others tilled the earth
It was hard back breaking effort
But we could see its worth
Having the satisfaction
Of eating what you grow
With water from the dart
And rain and melted snow

Drying meats and vegetables
And some of the wild plants
We made our own medicines
Our magic not by chance
All were tried and tested
And worked for us at least
We weaved dried plants
And nothing went to waste
From any beast

The sun great god above us all
Providing light and heat
The moon to give so much
The goddess she did treat
Us with the luscious moon light
And we realised our soul
Shadows of the mighty forces
Helping us control

The wonders of our bodies
Us women of the field
We understood its magic
How it helped us to build
Our bodies and intuition
And the star light it did too
entertained our sleeping hours
And taught us to be true

Oft i would walk across the moor
To my mothers kist for she
Had died a while before
And we cremated her actually
Wrapped her ashes in animal skin
And laid ber down to rest
With her amber bracelet
And a some shale beads
She liked best

The moor was wild and beautiful
Bird song filled the air
Rabbits scurried back and forth
Wild souls were everywhere
Following certain alignments
The elders Showed us where
And we the younger fitter souls
Would place the stones and share

The magic of each moment
Our rituals of the moon
We tended to work our magic
Any time after noon
Realness and actuality
Undeniable power
To coexist as we all did
Every single hour

Was gifted to us and we held
Life dear to our soul
We looked after each other
And those who passed on
Whose role
Were then to fill our avid thoughts
Our mentors in the earth
Our oblivion was coming
Where Everything had worth

Fire was very spiritual
We warmed our bodies too
We cooked we melted metals
A lot more we could do
We washed in warmer water
Than the icy dart below
And fire made life more
Comfortable
And kept us in the flow

Some men were building circles
Rituals were our way
We met with higher beings
In our dream world so to say
Our stones were living pathways
More easily seen by eye
A runway for the spirits
Who came down from on high

storm clouds often rolled across the moor
With violent gales
Curtains of rain would thrust us back and forth
We had heard tales
Of communities all swept away
Which was why we learned to be
Good hut builders taking time
And expertise to see

And to break the wind around
us with walls
Protecting all
Creative and inventive
And they did seldom fall
That was an opportunity
To add value and see
The practical side of maintaining
Sustainability

We had to think about these things
Times were new and hard
success or failure was down to us
We had to try and guard
and be aware of the seaons
The extremes that came
The overflowing gifts of god
With only ourselves to blame

If the roof blew off
Or the logs caught fire
Or no animals we could catch
We had to really improve our skills
Learn in a lowly patch
Learn about the countryside
Survival was the way
Knowledge was just everything
That we must learn each day

We sang we recited poetry
Music was a way
We climbed the hills we walked a lot
We learned and we did play
Climbing trees and using the great height
To see lots more
From What our eyes could see from standing on the earth
Just to explore

Further, we were learning, the university of life
Was all around us
The superiority
Of a heightened position
A vantage point seemed right
Over the hills and far aWay
We were up there day and night

The wonders that were nature
The damsel fly in flight
The aquamarine its beauty
Everything was right
An abundance of true wild folk
And all of us here were
Happy they were able
To provide their flesh and fur

All the while we were learning
Mindful of each day
Each has a gift to give another
That is how we pay
We learn from the outside picture
How the jigsaw fits in place
We share we care we are aware
And thus create our space

We each have our allotment
And administrate it too
Seeding grading growing
Making the soil anew
With leaves and thatch and herbage
As our great mother does
At the feet of the giant oaks
The rotting leaves all buzz

With life with lots of insects
And birds that come to sing
And others that come to eat the birds
This web of life does bring
An order to our living
We must not think in haste
Everything has value
A precursor that is based

On the truest reality
The embryonic way
The ancestry that put us here
On any given day
We think ahead 4000 years
To what might then be here
And whether those who walk these moors
Will do so with a tear

In their eye from the winters wind
Will they stop and see
Our kists and our stone circles
And know now where we be
Will they see long barrows
And henges and will they
Wonder how we managed
To pass our lives away