Lughnasadh and Samhuin, Beltane and Imbolc;
A Celtic rural year dancing heathen Nordic tunes,
Bringing Slaughter and Salting, Sowing and Reaping,
Guising in the Sheiling, the reading of the Runes.
Fell and Force, Garth and Ghyll, Beck, and Cockley Crag,
Thwaite and Tarn, Syke and Howe, Lonnen, Yat and Dodd,
Thruff and Cam, Scrow and Rush, Gimmer, Twinter, Hogg;
The Yan, Tan, Tethera of the Norseman’s homesick Trod.

Martinmas and Michaelmas, Lady Day and Lamas,
Candlemas and Christmas, Midsummers Day and Whit;
Haunting us, taunting us, as once familiar strangers,
Milestones of the year Into Quarters carefully spilt.
Forest-won place-names: ‘ham, and ‘ton, and ‘burgh;
Oxen-plough and Marl and Scythe, Stook and Loke and Loam,
Furlongs ploughed on Open Field, Stints to graze the Common;
Essential terms and tools and trades of the Saxon Harvest-home

Nanosecond Intel chip, Atomic Clock and i-Phone,
Rolex, Facebook, Twitter, the commuting Groundhog Day.
Money laden Christmas-fest spilling back to August,
Strawberries in winter, Asynchronous Array.
Cyberspace and Digital, Queue and Quark, and Quantum,
Tesco, Azda, Morrisons, supply-chains on the road.
EasyJet and Ryanair queuing, packing, stacking;
Space-Time bending with inhuman over-load.