by Michael Tod
‘We have heard you, Marguerite. We have heard you.’
Her body slumped exhausted on the broad grey-green branch of the beech tree and Clover moved forward to sit by her, a paw on the frail shoulder of her teacher and friend. She could feel the slowing of Old Burdock’s breathing. All was silence except for a gentle breeze rustling the beech leaves about them.
At last Old Burdock raised her eyes to the sky, blinked at the bright light and said:
Sun, now let me come,
Peacefully, to you. Your gift
To a true Tagger
Clover reached forward and closed the lids of Old Burdock’s vacant eyes. Fern combed out the last few hairs of her tail.
Sun, take this squirrel
Into the peace of your earth
To nourish a tree.
Away over the water and the heath, Marguerite took her paw from the New Woodstock and leant back exhausted against the trunk of the Look-out Pine.
‘I reached them,’ she whispered to Juniper, ‘I reached them. The Key is 12345670 X 42.’
No wonder they called her Bright One, Juniper thought lovingly, as he helped her back to the drey above the pool of sapphire blue where young Oak and Burdock were sleeping the sleep of the innocent.
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About the author:
Novelist, poet and philosopher Michael Tod was born in Dorset in 1937. He lived near Weymouth until his family moved to a hill farm in Wales when he was eleven. His childhood experiences on the Dorset coast and in the Welsh mountains gave him a deep love and a knowledge of wild creatures and wild places, which is reflected in his poetry and novels.
Married with three children and three grandchildren, he still lives, works and walks in his beloved Welsh hills but visits Dorset whenever he can.
Michael Tod’s latest non-fiction book 'The Ferryboat - Finding a Credible God' is due for publication in early 2011.
Visit michaeltod.co.uk where you can find out more about Michael Tod, his background, his books and his poetry.
