Lightest of breeze, Sea in the air
Sounds of children playing down there
Green on the shingle, Cabbage White
Occasional bird in lazy flight
Blue of the sky, blue of the sea
White wispy clouds, soft buzzing bee
Shimmering distantly Worthing pier
Sometimes hazy, sometimes clear
Moored on horizon, fishing boats
Whilst nearer in shore swimmers float
Out to the east is Brighton’s sprawl
High in the air a seagull’s call
Perfect now the weather’s fine
Lancing Beach in summertime
When I’m cold in the winter
I will think of the days
when the warmth of the summer
smothers every malaise
Back to the times
when unencumbered and free
I can wander in sunshine
and quite simply be me
[Thinking of summer when cold was first posted in November 2015, reposted in January 2021 and January last year and again today (with an extract – the second verse)]
Of an evening spent down by the sea
with waves lapping there quietly
I’ll let the silence encapsulate me
At the end of a wonderful day
Of an evening with the sky painted pink
as my toes in the sand slowly sink
I have time to ponder and think
At the end of a wonderful day
Of an evening with sun on the wane
with the sky to the west all aflame
The sea brings its calming again
At the end of a wonderful day
Of an evening slowly coming to end
in this place I can always depend
It is good to spend time with my friend
At the end of a wonderful day
Over the years I have titled several poems with the preposition ‘of’ – so this last Jemverse mini-series of 2022 pulls some of those back together again
Where are the sunshine days
now winter's cold hand clasps?
Still there though faded now and weak
as summer never lasts
Yet there in the circle promise lies
and breath bated with a smile
knows with reassurance it
will come back in a while
[An ‘ubi sunt’ poem poses a rhetorical question derived from the Latin “uni sunt qui ante nos fuerunt” (Where are those that went before us?). Indicating nostalgia, an ‘ubi sunt’ poem is about the transient nature of things].
Some say it debilitates
that may be true
yet never from sunshine
you'll see me eschew
for as had been said here
many times in the past
I was born of the summer
and that fact will last
So to sunshine and warmth
I will gravitate and
promulgate all its virtues
so you'll understand
I am part of the sunshine
It’s warmth lifts my soul
It revitalises and
with it I’m whole
I am part of the summer
Long days in the sun
with lavender lingering
when they are done
I am part of the essence
that winter is not
As I’m only myself
when it’s lovely and hot
This time of year with pen in hand
I'll sit down in my garden and
as sunshine warms and shines and does
what in July it will because
this is summer, so will I
sit down and watch as time goes by
and words may come. they often do
reflecting on a whim eschewed
crafted from a poet's mind
inspired here by the sun I find
The mercury climbed to forty
for the hottest we had seen
records broken everywhere
from what they once had been
and everybody moaned
as no infrastructure here
to cope with extreme weather
when the high is in the clear
Ice-cream sales and paddling pools
brought respite here to some
but most of us just melted
in this gorgeous summer sun
I've long had a passion for lavender and
that time of years' here with clippers in hand
my Trug* will be filled with fragrance divine
which I've grown through the year and now is all mine
Sometimes there are casualties, plants come and go
some prosper well, but others (you know)
may give a few flowers then give up the ghost
but that's not too often and thankfully most
at this time of year when summer is high
bring my lavender heaven replete for a sigh
Concluding the Jemverse summer 22 series ‘Melting Days) [12 of 12]
Those fields of long summers are here with me still
as though I've grown older I've not had my fill
the adventures have changed but I am far from done
as I'm still looking forward to summers to come
...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 