St Roch Church, Pendomer
SEEN FROM THE TRAIN
Somewhere between Crewkerne
And Yeovil it was. On the left of the line
Just as the crinkled hills unroll
To the plain. A church on a small green knoll—
A limestone church,
And above the church
Cedar boughs stretched like hands that yearn
To protect or to bless. The whole
Stood up, antique and clear
As a cameo, from the vale. I swear
It was not a dream. Twice, thrice, had I found it
Chancing to look as my train wheeled round it
But this time I passed,
Though I gazed as I passed
All the way down the valley, that knoll was not there,
Nor the church, nor the trees it moulded.
What came between to unsight me?…..
But suppose, only suppose there might be
A secret look it the landscape’s eye
Following you as you hasten by
And you have your chance—
Two or three chances
At most—to hold and interpret it rightly,
Or it is gone for aye.
There was a time when men
Would have called it a vision said that sin
Had blinded me since to a heavenly fact.
Well, I have neither invoked nor faked
Any church in the air,
And little I care
Whether or no I shall see it again.
But blindly my heart is racked
When I think how, not twice or thrice,
But year after year in another’s eyes
I have caught the look that I missed today
Of the church, the knoll, the cedars—a ray
Of the faith, too, they stood for,
The hope they were food for
The love they prayed for, the facts beyond price—
And turned my eyes away.
Cecil Day-Lewis
At the published co-ords
Let the number of boot scrapers = A
Let the number of door hinges = B
When was ARTHUR WHETHAM born?
Let the day in October = C and the year = 1DEF
The cache can be found at
N50 53.(C-E)(C+A)D W002 40.(D-F)EB
Checksum = 51
**************************************
For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro@gmail.com.
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
*************************************