At the southern end of the Mersey Forest Road is a small car parking area. The track to Grail falls begins here.

Aftermath

We walk within a forest

Knee high ferns

Coil upwards

no leaves glinting

Broken limbs spear the ground

Beeches crowd the land

All dead

white

Creaking with imminent fall

Cathedral

Beyond the crossing

Heading sharply up

A cathedral of beech

Massive trunks leap into the sky

Bark stained in shadow

Between

Branches dripping with leaves

Glow bright green in the sunlight

Stained glass windows

Of supplicant apostles

Orchids

Nestled by a fallen log

Bark rotting above mud and moss

We see the orchids

Five

Green

Slight and straight

Bearing scimitar tusks

Simultaneously fierce, beautiful and delicate

Hungry for light and air

Thriving after Winter.

Water

First

There is the steady roar

Falling water

Second

The mist

Fine webs of vapour

Cool and fresh

Third

The view

Bifurcated falls

Form two streams

The cliff

Black, jagged, stepped

Water hurtles in sheer leaps

And broken ones

Dazzlingly white