Lucky Dip Number 3
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A Walk By Twilight
I walked the dim-lit level sands and watched The ruby-tinted twilight gild the sky; As the red frieze, with myriad sparkling lights, Crept o'er the trembling water, the plaintive cry Of the last lone seagull echoed on the cliffs That overhung the shore. A call of peace Dying among the murmur of the waves; And sun-lit islands melted in the seas. I turned and traced my path across the bay, The cool sand stirred beneath my dusty feet, The town lights glowed like sequins through the dark Marking the plane where sky and water meet. The tide was washing memory from the beach As sleep washed memory from the mind of man, And little Everests of children's hands Broke, as ideals have since time began. But in my mind the sun again had risen, And children's voices sounded from the shore. The brown waves swirled in foam around the feet Of happy bathers, joined by more and more Until the water echoed with their cries. Four boys were leading ponies round a mark While wind-blown children clung upon their backs, Till with the softening sea-breeze came the dark. Then rugs were lifted from the cooling beach, And tired children, close to mother's side, Watched the boys lead the ponies from the strand. The sun's red plume sank lower on the tide. The figures disappeared as they had come, The vision of the day once more had gone, The dark and bitter night-air whipped my face - And left me but a dream to dream upon. |
The Voice of Youth - Winter 1956
Poetry Society Quarterly for Associate Members |