When I walked up from the beach through the woods at Penbryn yesterday I was reminded of this poem, written in May 2016. It's also in my latest collection, 'Before we Breathe'
Bouquet by the beach
Wet wool hangs raw from barbs on a fence
where the smell of sheep had gathered,
their fragrance sketched all over the air.
A thousand flowers of hawthorn open,
tiny stamens like dots of dust
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| Photo by Dave Urwin |
on a perfect white cloth.
On cliffs where water falls sea pinks hug slate,
make thrift in abundance, overlaying
seaweed traces on a breeze.
tickles your nose, fills your head.
In the café a caramel cookie rests
wide and flat, sweet and delicate in its thinness,
on a bone china plate; fragments of chocolate
soften in the sun,
and there is coffee. I breathe through the steam,
catch scents of chocolate, of bluebells, and the sea.
