This field,
An island.
The shore,
A tide line of greys,
Heaped into trees.
This grass,
A sea.
The waves,
Speckled with mistle,
Frozen with dew.
This field,
An island.
The shore,
A tide line of greys,
Heaped into trees.
This grass,
A sea.
The waves,
Speckled with mistle,
Frozen with dew.
What’s a mistle, Tim? I’ve heard of mistletoe and the missel thrush, but mistle? Oh, it’s Old English for the mistletoe. Clever. I call my cat Burd or Burdekin, and people think it’s silly to use ‘bird’ as a pet name. Burd is a maiden, burdekin a young maid. We should not lose these old words, eh? And did you know bonking (still in use) is a 16th century Shropshire dialect word for swiving?
Mistle is also used to describe a very fine rain which is the sense of the word that I was using here.