This is the sixth in a series of posts about Australian singer/songwriter, Stu Larsen. Stu spent each month of calendar year 2024 seeking solitude in a different location around the world – and writing a new song in each place. Having made it to June, Stu was half-way through his year-long project.

June 2024

This month, Stu travelled down from the north of Scotland to the south of England, staying in Leskernick Cottage on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall.

Bodmin Moor seems not to have changed in thousands of years; a somewhat mystical region comprising rolling green hills dotted with ancient stone circles. Indeed, humans may well have had a greater presence on the moor two thousand years ago than they do today.

The setting led Stu to write a rather pensive and introspective tune that includes the lines:

time stands still on leskernick hill
only the ghosts of ghosts remain

My haiku, written in response to the song, also hints at the timeless nature of the area:

Bodmin Moor . . .
a new goldfinch
on an old stone

(If you watch the video closely you might just glimpse a couple of goldfinches.)