12-26-2011, 06:50 PM
This is a very, very old poem which hasn't seen the light of day for years! I am trying to show you a scene through my eyes.
Through bulrushes and tangled reeds,
a narrow boat thrusts its way
over badly-spoken bikes,
drowned prams and lost boots,
whilst sticklebacks dart under her beam.
Undulating eddies annoy
the bank-bound fishermen
as they idle in the collapsed afternoon,
casting covetous glances
at her back
as she steams nonchalantly by.
Her tow-path meanders in tandem
with the somnolent canal,
where hedgerows cramp its freedom
as it cuts through freshly harvested fields.
Succulent, dust-free blackberries
decorate each bramble hedge
like purple dew-drop clusters
awaiting children’s lips
as dragon-flies show-off their shot-silk
shirts to the dowdy horse-fly swarms
who in turn tease
the long-lashed cows,
browsing in the afternoon’s warmth.
Through bulrushes and tangled reeds,
a narrow boat thrusts its way
over badly-spoken bikes,
drowned prams and lost boots,
whilst sticklebacks dart under her beam.
Undulating eddies annoy
the bank-bound fishermen
as they idle in the collapsed afternoon,
casting covetous glances
at her back
as she steams nonchalantly by.
Her tow-path meanders in tandem
with the somnolent canal,
where hedgerows cramp its freedom
as it cuts through freshly harvested fields.
Succulent, dust-free blackberries
decorate each bramble hedge
like purple dew-drop clusters
awaiting children’s lips
as dragon-flies show-off their shot-silk
shirts to the dowdy horse-fly swarms
who in turn tease
the long-lashed cows,
browsing in the afternoon’s warmth.