We thought we were moving to Leeds,
then discovered we’d come to Yorkshire.
The diversity of landscape here is an unimagined spell:
coast, moorland, dale and fell,
etched by strolling rivers
beyond a vibrant city hub.
Today, walking an ancient bridleway,
roots and stones jagging underfoot like Yorkshire wit,
I watch summer dusk engulfing the trees above me
and a wash of soft light
rinsing the fields below.
Friends and family were aghast at our defection to the bumptious north
and even to us, it was just another stop
on the path of fledgling careers.
Never expected we’d stay for thirty-five years.
Barbara Lawton