A Birthday Villanelle

For Elaine and David who run the Arts in the Community Charity ‘Pilgrim Hearts’ (not forgetting David’s passion for Gliding) on the occasion of their joint 117th birthday!

You’ve been gliding through the years
From east to west you’ve traded places
Helping folks to face their fears.

How well deserved are all these cheers
The admiration on these faces
You’ve been gliding through the years.

Beauty springing from a well of tears
Artworks struck from the hardest cases
Helping folks to face their fears.

And from the rocks flowed many prayers
Which swept away all trauma’s traces
You’ve been gliding through the years.

We can’t confer BAFTAS or make you Peers,
But say “You’ve blessed the wilder places
Helping folks to face their fears.

Tilling the land till the life appears
Harvesting dynamics where once was stasis.
You’ve been gliding through the years
Helping folks to face their fears.