Each week, we'll be publishing more of our favourite poetry, articles and book reviews featured in previous editions of our membership magazine Conserving Lakeland. Follow the links to see them all.

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Wan sunlight filters through

The morning mist,

But barely warms the chilsome air;

Deep blue the cloudless sky

And all is still, as Jack Frost stands

O’er his night’s work

To survey and admire,

As row on row the spiny crystals gleam,

But walkers do beware

This crisp and sugary scene,

Which so beguiles the senses

And the boot, that in a trice,

From ‘neath the unwary

Deftly pulls the rug and

Sends one earthwards with a thump;

All’s chaos in a second,

Struggle, thrash and grab

As well we may,

The trick’s so quick

We’re horizontal in a flash

And wondering how

The ground came up so fast!

By Alan Gane