The Hydrology of Dartmoor – A Poem

Water-laden westerlies
Orographic clouds
Precipitation falls
Mizzle mists and ceaseless showers
Gauzes of frost
An occasional shield of snow 
  
Falls on ombrotrophic bog
Boggy blankets
Boggy moss 
Rainwater fed; rainwater nourished
Bathing in humic acids
Imparting Dartmoor palette
  
Gravity pulls
Seeping downwards 
Flows through organic soils
Overland flows 
Hortonian
Permeation. Saturation. Inundation
  
A roll call: 
Tavy Head
Erme Head
Plym Head
Avon Head
Taw Head
West Dart Head
East Dart Head
Gathering in the water
  
No longer precipitation
Now river flow
Kinetic momentum builds
Rivers earn their names
Drainage cutting
Radiating peripherally
  
Over granite boulders
Over growan gravel
Peaty water spills
Turbid water tumbles
Tributaries supply 
Discharge builds
  
Veins of water
In moorland corpus
Urgent issue
Under clam or clapper
Flashing flow
Departing Dartmoor

by Sharon Gedye (c) 2021