Oxwich
Wide windscape : the sand moulded As waves are, into mounds, But higher, scalloped, rounded.
To hold the heat in craters Walled against winds.
So too birch and ash bend, Succumb to lichen, salt, Early stunting, decay; Brambles crawl, lying low To save their sparse blue berries, Intruders here, though prolific Farther back where the tall trees huddle And the wind's way ends Up against rock and the rainy hillsides.
Long seascape, interlocked With various land.
Fresh water comes down to brine From loam through marshland to gravel And with the lushest warbling Of blackbird, thrush in warm leaves
Mingles a curlew's fluting
And, windblown, an oystercatcher's; On shallow banks the footprints, The detritus of herons, of gulls.
Discount the castle above, Hidden, and foreign here As campers who drink a morning Too bitter-sweet for comfort Though wind and rain hold back, A jungle of weeds exhales Earthy richness beyond the dunes.
Guests at a dangerous marriage Daily solemnised. broken, They walk abeyance, close To whirlpools, to sheer cliffs,. And will not return when the fox Leanly lopes over ice.
MICHAEL HAMBURGER
Previous page
