Wild Mountain Thyme

A Poem

Drawn by E. Blore; engraved by G. Cook. Sheffield from the Attercliffe Road, c. 1819. Public domain.

Let my malady bring once more,
the healing scent of mountain thyme,
long lost with the fields of heather,
no fragrance along our cobblestoned roads.

Shire horses and ploughmen replaced by steam,
as we fled our poverty to the factories and the mills.
No more the hyssop plucked from the forest’s edge,
our senses stripped…