To the edge of the world ...

These were his bones - 

They were taken from under the high hill -

Next to his sword a chalk spindlewhorl -

I'll follow where he walked -

Through the wildwood -

Over flint and iron to the edge of the world -

Dorset Museum 

Dorchester 

February 2023

Africa clinging to the pages ...

I climbed the narrow stair, past stilled carriage clocks -

The book waited for me -

The two glorious elephants -

Africa clinging to the pages -

My boyish dream to be an explorer -

Tracing rivers across beguiling maps -

Marvelling at the names of deserts -

Longing to see different stars -

February 2023

Salisbury Antiques Market 

Scent of boyracing ...

I smelled spilled petrol in the museum -

The scent of boyracing -

A Silk Cut  hung from my lips - 

Dorset Museum 

Dorchester 

Beautiful ghosts ...

We saw the deep blue of The Little Sea -

The dunes sheltered us from the wind - 

Birch trees were beautiful ghosts -

Studland 

February 2023

His hawklike gaze ...

I'll read John Cowper Powys in this wood panelled room -

I feel his hawklike gaze - 

I'll stand with him on the ancient hill -

Learn of mysteries hidden in the windswept grass -

February 2023

Dorset Museum 

Dorchester 

The four deckchairs ...

The deckchairs faced the sea -

I felt the beautiful loneliness Edward Hopper painted -

The pale blueness of the sea and sky -

I remembered a sentence in a book I loved - 

Time isn't deep, it is already around us -

February 2023

Studland 

Dorset 

There is still more love ...

The air darkens now - 

Yet there is love - 

There are still angels walking unseen -

There is still more love -

February 2023