To Saltfleet Marsh - Poem

To Saltfleet Marsh

July 20 2008
Just 12 miles to the sea

Along Louth road

And across country

With camomile scented air

Brushing through our hair

We cycle there

Roads are as quiet

As can possibly be

For a July day

By the sea

Wind turbines tick by slow

Hypnotically round they go

Statues standing in a row

Milling a wind that barely blows

The marshland is at low tide

Along the footpath we slowly ride

How much longer will it take ?

The sea shore is still opaque

Golden ragwort lends

Its sunny colour

To this sullen dull day

Where the persistent mist

Never ends

And sand drifts

Across marshland cliffs

And dune bends

Wispy weeds whisper

In the gentle whipping breeze

We push through beds of reeds

Along walls of tall long grasses

Sea-buckthorn and rushes

And orchids of the marshes

Species-rich hedgerows

And sea-lavender meadows

Back on the road

Creeping villages

Edge into view

Sleeping under veils

Of sweeping summer fog

And sea clouds appearing

Clearing and disappearing

Back into the wetland bog

Time stops.

There is no traffic

At the traffic stops

Only tractors

Delivering crops

Onto Crabtree lane

Then Church lane

A different way

From the way we came

And stopping by

The haunted church

To take shelter

In its doorframe

From a shower of rain

That suddenly came

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