Sarah Royston

Listen to Sarah read her story

When we walked out at sowing time

“I will stay,” you said.

Our shadows fell behind us on the old white track; the blackthorn winter dying with the rising of the light. You watched my face to see if I were glad.

In the leafless beech, two ring-doves cooed. It was my brother who taught me to mimic their calls. I thought of him, waving his cap from the train; the coal-smut tang of the air. I wondered, do the birds still sing in France?

You showed me new lambs in the field and starwort by the stream. Spring’s brightness was too cold a flame to touch my hoarfrost heart.

Blackthorn petals drifted in billows on the wind, white as the steam when an engine pulls away. A spine drew a thread of scarlet on my skin. “Wash the scratch,” you warned. “Or it may poison your blood.”

You reached for my hand, but I drew back. We parted on the ridge.

When we walked out at reaping-time

We met on the ridge. I clasped your fingers tightly in mine.

Berries gleamed in the thicket, black as my dress. You reached to pick one. “It’s too late,” I said. “They are past eating now.” Rosehips flecked the hedge like drops of blood.

The lambs were all gone from the field. A few butterflies lingered, red as poppies, defying the frost that must come.

In the russet beech, a magpie screamed. A wind-blown feather, bone-white, drifted to your shoulder. You dashed it off and looked away. I thought of my brother’s cap, when the parcel came. The stench of gas and mud.

I watched your face, praying that you wouldn’t speak. Our shadows stalked before us on the pale track; the bramble summer dying with the fading of the light.

You said, “I will go.”

This piece was first published in 2022 as first prize winner in the
Fosseway Writers “Equinox” competition, judged by Matt Kendrick

Sarah Royston’s writing draws inspiration from queer ecologies, plant-lore and the landscapes of southern England. She embraces the Hookland motto: re-enchantment is resistance. Her work is published in Dark Mountain, The Rumpus and Crow & Cross Keys, among others. She works as a sustainability researcher at Anglia Ruskin University and her first book, Fernseed: A Collection of Tales, was published in 2024. Website: https://hedgeways.wordpress.com/ Twitter: @sarahroyston4