To The Land

To The Land

Farewell to the land, said G.

There the pages bled for me

As I glanced up into the gloom

The cityscape surrounding thee

Away you went to live, to be

Collapsed like ruins to the sea

Towers and walls came crumbling

I was the wave that battered thee

You were the whole world, it seemed to me

A blue eye glinting diamondly

Through the cracks I dare to stare

And forfeit my soul to your memory

Now in these humid days we see

The tangled spines of one-time scenes

All twisted bars and lead and stone

And all that had lain waste to thee

Round it comes, the sun again

To lure us into hopefulness

I think of the land where I could be
But it is pale in the mind’s eye

All is lost - all rhyme, all reason

The heart-shaped visions that once were gold

Come flooding back like the rushing sea

Into a part of myself I thought had withered

But all will fade away once more

In the haunting grasp of a stranger

Who takes her by the hand

And shows her what is summer

As sure as the seasons, the dying down

Like the waning moon and the estuary

Then the sun rises hot and heavy again
While I melt from my dreams of thee

Now in these humid days I see

The clearest water and the streams

The land I knew calls out to me

I’ll respond eventually

Reviews

[Ken Simm.]

This is classic in every way. There is a knowledge here and an awareness of what poetry is or should be. Beautifully penned top shelf work. You could really place this poem in any era. That must be a yardstick of good work.

[Leslie Philibert]

A fine write that races along from the home of many poets, well done.

[B]

How did you make loss sound so beautiful ?
I cant say more than that !!