When I walked past last week this hedge was just a pile of brushwood. I stop and admire the skill of the hedge-layer, the confident cuts and twists, each branch supporting another, warp and weft of springy green wood. I wonder if the hedge-layer sees it as I do, a vibrant work of art, or if they are so critical of their craft that they are distracted by imperfections as I am when considering my own work.
"...The hedges of hawthorn yearn to become trees. They grow
with their young legs splayed. They sway with ripening buds.
A pleacher reaches for its root through its bark and sapwood
which is all in our cut and our angle and our taking of its toe.
Lie fallow there, poet, and you will grow young with the hedgerow."
from 'Hedge-layers' by David Morley
it is magnificent work when you can see the young bones here
ReplyDeleteThe weaving is so confident and it will be lovely to see it green up in Spring.
DeleteMarvellous to read and marvellous to see. A revelation
ReplyDeleteThank you! Hedging is an old craft but you don't often see a freshly laid hedge these days.
DeleteWinter hedge-laying (along with hand ditch clearing) was still regularly carried out in the rural area where I grew up in the SE. When we moved house, my Grandfather (who could turn his hand to anything) set to work on our new garden's boundary hedge. It was a work of art and lasted for decades, standing as a testament to his skill long after he passed on.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful legacy - a living hedge creating a safe space for his family.
DeleteI am in awe of skills such as hedge-laying. If only we could 'grow young with the hedgerow'.
ReplyDeleteI read that line as an inspiration to constantly renew ourselves. The bones might be old but we must challenge ourselves to seize new oppotunities.
DeleteWe don't have hedges like this here. It's beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThank you! It is a very old country craft with and is still used in some rural areas because it forms a thick, strong hedge perfect for containing lifestock and marking boundaries.
DeleteThat is most probably how it was meant – I was being too literal – and I much prefer your interpretation.
ReplyDelete