Claire V. Bogdanos

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.