Dawnings
breathing in the island
By Nicholas Hooper
like a huge inbreath we take a week breathing in this island
the wind-cropped land with that ever-sounding sea
the secretive paths that lead to beaches and ways to know this isle
reminded always that our planet is covered more by sea than by land
and finding those friendships again and again and again
and the food, oh the food: grey mullet, pasties,
food cooked by a chef next door, ice cream from local cows milk,
and the drink: Cornish beer, locally distilled gin with flavours of the flowers of Scilly
all those places, all that sea, all that sky… and the light of St Agnes
then, after a week we must leave on a boat and it feels like a small death
but actually it’s a long, long breath out……..
of all these memories to blow us to next year
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