Rite of Passage (Durham 2017)
There are still some things only life can let you know
Time is a classroom with no conferring
In the cloisters, the ghosts of Celtic saints have worn the floor
Adulthood is the painful art of letting go
The bridge is a widened gate to self-improvement
To towers of learning established above the trees
Where centuries of earnest minds have pushed the doors
Time is a classroom with no conferring
Place is the settled form and bend in the river’s flow
Adulthood is the painful art of letting go
Rowers learnt to sculpt and steer the current’s turning
There are still some things only life can let you know.
The beech trees are shedding this year’s brittle mast
Striking the shaded paths around the river’s course
There are still some things only life can let you know
Love is the painful art of letting go.