The poem
The sleepy sound of a tea-time tide Slaps at the rocks the sun has dried,
Too lazy, almost, to sink and lift Round low peninsulas pink with thrift.
The water, enlarging shells and sand, Grows greener emerald out from land
And brown over shadowy shelves below The waving forests of seaweed show.
Here at my feet in the short cliff grass Are shells, dried bladderwrack, broken glass,
Pale blue squills and yellow rock roses. The next low ridge that we climb discloses
One more field for the sheep to graze While, scarcely seen on this hottest of days,
Far to the eastward, over there, Snowdon rises in pearl-grey air.
Multiple lark-song, whispering bents, The thymy, turfy and salty scents
And filling in, brimming in, sparkling and free The sweet susurration of incoming sea.
Reprinted with the permission of John Murray (Publishers) Ltd.
This is a wonderfully descriptive and evocative poem which in a few short verses returns me to a wild unspoilt sea-side when I was young. The smells,the sounds the warm air and the coarse sea grass are all depicted in such a way as to produce a permanent multi-sensual "photograph"in my minds eye.