The knobbled grassy hillocks we walked on
May be the graves of monks who are long gone
The vertical remains in one high wall
From which a blackbird makes his sunset call.
The plainchant sung for centuries is here
For us who open up our inner ear
The sacred music floats away like leaves
Caught and carried by an autumn breeze
We stood beside the river, hand in hand
The water was as clear as love’s demands
And still, in my mind’s eye, I see that stream
Behind me the imagined Abbey dreams
An elegiac moment caught in words
Entranced by symbols like the darting birds
How my heart sings 