By The image has stayed with me since last summer
when we sat on the restaurant’s terrace
sipping Prosecco with our small family
to celebrate our first fifty years
of marriage: a view I had not seen before
of these straits I thought I knew so well
between Ynys Môn and Gwynedd’s coast,
a view – past Bangor Pier and Gallow’s Point,
over the Lavan Sands and Dutchman’s Bank
hidden beneath the high tide’s guileful waters –
to the rose horizon, and Liverpool Bay
out of sight with its wrecks and wind farms.
And I felt then – relaxed with the balm
of the sun, the wine, and those I am
lucky enough to love – and know now
with the wisdom of a year ever closer
to that untravelled bourn, how, irrespective
of the heart’s gazetteer, its topography,
all love comes unbidden like the elements.
Bangor PierDutchman's BankDylan'sGallow's PointGwyneddLavan SandsLiverpool BayMenai StraitsYnys Mon
John Huddart
August 25, 2017I find this as moving as the feelings it describes – everything from the apparently giveaway title, with its casual postcard tone, to the hidden depths of known events, and the welling up of emotion, softly, like air escaping from a diver’s lungs. Brilliant! Lovely!
Rosemary Jefford
September 7, 2017I really enjoyed this poem, particularly the last line.
Pat Rogerson
October 29, 2017You have such a way with words, David, when you speak of love.