In Kythera 2019. For Helen Carey.
Posted: November 27, 2019 Filed under: Poem, Uncategorized | Tags: Greece, Helen Carey, Kythera, Poem, Poetry, romance 5 CommentsWe met on the Greek island of Kythera ( pictured above) in June 2000, and returned, for the first time in 14 years, this June. It was magical when we met, and it (all) still is. On the same trip we met Hera, but that’s another story, maybe another poem. But for now, this is for Helen, who has my heart.
How did two decades
All but a year,
Slip by?
Filio laughed and hugged us, even cried,
The bamboo drifted in the soft breezed warmth
You and I, beside.
The taverna table laid up for two
Where once I waited
And the taxi ( thankfully)
never arrived, instead,
There was you.
As the wild thyme keened the air,
The kestrel plummeted
Geese hissed in a dust bowled olive grove
and the first cicadas of the summer began to drum.
Bees, drunk hummed on myrtle sipped nectar
Seawards spiralled
The blue and yellow collided
Over Kapsali mountainside.
Near Mitata, the church tower split, stricken,
We walked a new path
Crunched ancient shells underfoot
Stressed from the strains of bygone volcanoes
Tiny flowers grasped life from thin soil
A goat danced, windwarded.
How graceful you were
As we spanned the unknown
Having walked the Englishman’s Bridge
Revisited a love story
Writ large.
On the island where love erupted,
Bloomed, prospered, sun soaked
No longer alone.
Mediterranean delight,
Grecian pleasure.
We wrapped it tight,
Flew north,
Made it home.
Now, needs must
That I guard the treasure.
My Carningli Queen
Posted: September 5, 2013 Filed under: Photo, Poem | Tags: Carningli, Climbing, Love poem, Pembrokeshire, romance, Wales, Wishing 3 CommentsCarningli
Crowns the bay
As I stare hard
On this perfect summer’s day
At the blue-green world
Yawning beneath me.
Gasping to the top
I clasp at stone
And lay a new gift –
A blessing, ordered to complement
My bent –pin wishing well thoughts –
Atop the gathering cairn.
Rested, renewed,
My legs construed
To return me to you
And your melon scented kisses.
You – the jewel
In my Carningli crown.
Canadian rapture : captured. A song of celebration.
Posted: August 4, 2013 Filed under: Poem, Uncategorized | Tags: anniversary, birds, Calgary, Canada, Elk View Lodge, Fernie B C, romance, weddings 1 CommentWe got married, 7 years ago today, at Elk View Lodge in Fernie, Canada, with Mary Jane Leppard officiating and John, Min, Katryn and Gwyn to cheer us on! And then our great friends, Donna and Murray, who were there in Calgary, alongside my mum, to greet us and toast our good fortune.
This is by way of a thank you to them – but most of all, to my lovely Helen.
If you want to stay in a beautiful place in Canada we recommend http://www.elkviewlodge.com
It was our wedding day and
in the moon capped, early morning light,
the one I love the best,
I watched you sleep,
your blue bandana streaking your rest.
Pretty in pink
and pillowed breathing.
Wedding day dreaming?
No stags, nor hens, the night preceding,
but two humming birds milked the late night scents.
Later, great horned owls, two again,
ghost winged past us,
a stately proceeding through the pines.
It all made sense,
these avian blessings.
You and I, entwined.
The sunlight cracked the morning mountains,
and on the day, the view
emboldened us once more.
The jagged, lizard spine bowled us over,
bouldered beauty abounded.
Under oath, you took me,
and I you.
And we were proud,
to be so
avowed.
Overhead, two eagles soared,
testimony perhaps?
Promises, destinies, futures,
tried, tested, assured.
Later that day,
waxwings flashed across an emerald coloured lake,
a woodpecker belted out a treetop drumbeat.
We paddled gently, made no mistake
and made a wedding breakfast
in British Colombian heat.
Driving back, Calgary bound,
a pick up truck split the prairie side
streaming a dust dirt cloud.
Bluebird boxes decorated our journey.
We revelled in the wedding day drive,
fulfilled, enriched
and proud.
Time moved on,
birds, holidays, all took flight.
Today
We are in a different place
but find ourselves
happy, still
fat and full
with
wedding day delight.