Diamonds glistening in the sand
Clouds made for wistful dreaming and
A breeze that shouts with clarity
Above the sequin-spattered sea,
White caps that spill forth spray askew,
While gulls that capture the whole view,
Oblivious do o’erhead fly
O’er moody waves in fickle sky.
Beneath the roofs and chimney walk
Where ancient seafolk gentry stalk,
Blue chintz and varied homilies
Repute the tenure of our ease
As hearthside flames so bright within
Unsettling nature’s chill chagrin.
Sweet Jesus when he lay asleep
Secure within his manger deep
Did bring the peace that love had found
Upon the land, beside the ground
While I who now have bought some space
Will nestle in this quiet place
To seek but never treasure caught
Like pleasures found and known and thought.
The steady buzz and muted sound
Of aged folk while gathered round
A formal table set in lace,
With silvered service at each place,
Are days of legend long forgot
Heroic past, remembered not.
A seaman dozing on a bench
His nostrils charged with ebbtide’s drench,
An old man rocking in his chair
Chanting some verse in cadence there
Beside the others on the porch
And through the bush, a lighted torch
Of some late caller heading home
There on the bluff by chance did roam.
A cottage set on windy hill
Inviting some to linger still,
A plaintive moan so fills the air
One thinks to sight a mermaid there,
Lost vision caught in time’s withdrawal
The crowding fog soon covers all.
While here within pastoral life
We seek escape from cultured strife
And steal a moment here and there
To garner strength and mend our wear,
The fallacy if we deny
That life is swift and passes by
Is homeward brought by days too brief
That cast aside another leaf.
Some memory the dark may find
When other times prove most unkind,
The careless wind, the ocean’s sweep
The scent of woodlands deep in sleep,
This rockbound coast where vessels sailed
Leaves few untouched by earth’s travail.
Claire V. Bogdanos 