Sand ..... poem

Sand

In the afternoon sun
by the ocean waves
I sit in the dunes
with the gulls at play

One hovers on the wind
nearby in the air
with the smell of salt
and free of care

Where waves crash in
upon the sands
where children make castles
with their tiny hands

The sand is warm through my fingers
like sugar with a spoon
to add to the tea
in the afternoon

With cakes freshly baked
still warm from the oven
like a witches magic
from the home cookery coven

The fire crackles near
the log glows slow
and I turn back to the book
about a time in the snow

Long ago and so young
we built an igloo for our camp
glowing at night like a lantern
a cool exotic lamp

A gum leaf in the billy
to make bush tea
ya can't buy that flavour
not for any fee

I close the door on those memories
and find myself on the beach
where waves crash in like breath
where gulls happily screech

I keep returning to that moment
in the sun of the afternoon
to be with the salted breeze
with sand in my hand like a spoon


Jaqi
Bluh

Thursday
8
November
2018

NOTE ~   Howrah was once a town, and may have been named after a city in India. There was a sign at each end of Howrah, declaring the ~ Town of Howrah. It is now a suburb of the City of Clarence. Howrah was once all farmlands, where I ran as a child on endless adventures, in the forested hills above our town, and to the beach, by the shore of the River Derwent, where it is a deep and wide harbour. From the beach there was a view to the ocean, and the sea breeze would blow in most afternoons. This is the setting of the poem, where I once played as a child, building sandcastles. And being by the ocean waters, sandcastles could have moats. Fond memories from days in the sun, like a dream. The igloo was built, on a National Fitness camp in the snow, by Twilight Tarn along the Tarn Shelf. Two groups built igloos, which were out of the cold wind at night. The third group went higher up to a ridge of snow, and made a snow cave. The tea and the book and the log fire is reflective of a wise old English gentleman I once knew, where I had my studio in his big old house, where he would offer a cup of tea, and in the evening, a glass of sherry. He kept his mind active by reading, and being wise, and having once trained race horses, many people would come to ask for Bark's advice on many matters. He told of taming the wildest horse, with the help of young women, who came to his riding school, and who frequently visited Bark. It was a happy time. As I respecting the wisdom of elders, I once asked Bark ~ "What is the most important thing in life?" Ever swift with a reply, the old man surprised me, with silence, for a time, until answering with one word ~ "Confidence." I took that lesson on board, and made it one of my cornerstones to build a life on.