Bagged up all my lavender
in bunches hung above me
drying out and making
all around me smell quite lovely
A bumper crop this year
has meant a lot more bags to do
which later on as little gifts
may find their way to you
It’s really a cathartic way
to spend a summer day
bagging up the lavender
I’ve grown along the way
A day I spend least once a year
each harvest to remember
Sometimes in late August
Sometimes in September
Prevailing sou’ westerly blows
across this grey-green sea
but the sunshine warm, encourages
so I’m content to be
Staying here throughout the day
to watch the sea out there
as white-capped waves comes into shore
with constant rhythm shared
Many years have I sat here
alone in the sun
from early in morning
until day is done
I have sea and the seagulls
kite surfers and more
the sun and the view
which I love and adore
And yes times have changed
the years see to that
but I don’t have a problem
with that as a fact
For it’s all part of life
and one lived to the full
encouraged I’d say
by this beach and its pull
For it draws and it beckons
me back to its wings
and when I am here
my inner soul sings
There’s a ‘je ne sais quoi’
just something that is
that brings me a peace
which borders on bliss
To the east the seven sisters
to the west the Isle of Wight
around this sweeping Sussex bay
I have within my sight
And in front of me out to the south
the diamond glinting sea
reflecting southern sunshine
is with me here and free
So no wonder that from time to time
I’ll come and sit and gaze
on Lancing beach for hours
at the ever moving waves
For this is as close to heaven
I can be I’d safely say
here in my perfect haven
on this Sussex coastal bay
Many days have I spent
near the diamond-cast sea
as it shines and it glints in the sun
Tranquility here
with a book and a beer
and a pen to capture the fun
Summer and Winter
Autumn and Spring
this beach hut throughout the year
is all that I need
when soul shine is freed
with the beach and the sea quite so near
Two Roman villas
Two Mondays past
we’ve visited and found several ways
to lose ourselves here
with plenty of cheer
a cure for any malaise
Bignor this time
Mosaics again
under thatch to par excellence
Discovered when farming
at the time quite alarming
in the nineteenth century perchance
Had the place to ourselves
with no-one else here
so we took time to take it all in
Inspired here to capture
in awe and some rapture
this Bignor palace will bring
We took lots of pictures
with details to use
in things that we make when back home
Sculptures and drawings
of mosaic floorings
that antiquity to us has shown
The collection is growing
of our iron blooms
amongst the nasturtiums out there
Exposed to the weather
they rust and remain
with permanent gusto and flair
We have poppies and daisies
and other such things
positioned and planted at leisure
For as the year changes
and plants come and go
they remain for continuing pleasure
...all about me and my life in words. I write most days, carrying an ideas book around in which I capture a word snapshot of life around me. So there's a lot here about Sussex and the sea and anything else I see that inspires.
The pictures are mine too. Some taken to match a poem; some poems written to match a pic; others chosen because they work well with words written.
Jemverse is life in words. Hope you enjoy the reading as much as I enjoy the writing...
Jemverse 