Heart Shaped Wood - Mike Turnbull

Submitted by: Mike T.

Travelling North of Kendal, Cumbria on the M6 you pass through the Tebay Gorge. On the side of the fell is a small woodland in the shape of a heart. Locally it is known as The Heart Shaped Wood and is beautifully more defined in the spring & summer when the trees are in full leaf.
My song tells of the story of forbidden lovers meeting in the wood for what was to be the last time. As WW1 loomed, the lovers embraced as they said goodbye to each other. The bird life of the wood becomes their metaphor in the form of a single feather which is caught in the hand with the young soldier, who on the battlefield still clings to the feather, remembering all he has left behind.
It symbolises the current times as Covid took its grip and loved ones hung on to hope despite outcomes.