Reading The Cabalist ...

I'm reading The Cabalist -

Once more I'm looking at dark water -

I know I'm being followed -

I remember the winding stair -

My small room above the canal - 

The bad dreams I had in the icy bed - 

26 June 2022

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

Dorset 

A Quaker speaks ...

She spoke with a gentle strength - 

Her voice never faltered -

The long shining line of faith held fast - 

Her eyes saw clear - 

25 June 2022

Dorchester 

Brother Alisdair gathered up his robe ...

There were banners -

The comrades had brave words -

They were not beguiled by hirelings - 

They were awake - 

Brother Alisdair gathered up his robe - 

The word for this government is sinfulness he said -

23 June 2022

RMT picket line 

Weymouth 

A voice new to this world ...

There were water lilies in the basin of the fountain -

I had heard a voice new to this world -

I was surrounded by wonder - 

I had been blessed a third time - 

I felt my heart dancing -

23 June 2022

The Walled Garden

Moreton

Dorset 

All of us becoming beautiful ...

We lay here bathed in light - 

There was the silence of the dawn light -

The still water, glimpsed through the porthole -

On the deck, the low voices of the women - 

Far off music - 

All of us becoming beautiful - 

8 June 2022

Lycian coast

Jake looks at the world ...

Jake looks at the world - 

The trees sing to him - 

He walks in a bright garden - 

He is still touched by the air of heaven -

21 June 2022

Wareham

Dorset 

Returning to Heartbeat ...

I've returned to Heartbeat -

My sofa welcomes me - 

Soft rain is falling on the garden - 

Ventress smiles his craggy northern smile -

17 June 2022

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

Dorset 

I still saw the abyss ...

The white ship was anchored in a silent bay - 

I'd just finished reading The Secret Agent -

I still saw the abyss before me, even under a flawless sky - 

10 June 2022

Lycian Coast 

Chrysler Imperial ...

The Chrysler Imperial was a feast of opulent chrome -

Its white tyres dazzled -

I was beguiled by gangster glamour -

I remembered dangerous names - 

17 June 2022

St John's Hill 

Wareham 

Dorset

When we came back ...

When we came back, there was birdsong in the garden - 

There were buttercups - 

Apples were growing on the tree - 

16 June 2022

The Old Schoolhouse 

East Stoke

Dorset 

The choir sings its farewell ...

The choir sang its farewell - 

The voices were pure and wonderful -

My heart was full -

I would always remember this moment -

The wide bay, the song -

The warm air of the generous night -

The voices singing farewell on the ancient sea -

12 June 2022

Fethiye 

The beautiful couple ...

A storm was coming -

The marineros knew the sky -

The white ship anchored close to the resin scented shore -

The rain fell - 

The wind stirred the waves -

In the salon, Barbara showed us how to rumba -

She rolled her hips -

She remembered Old Havana -

The beautiful couple, dancing as one -

11 June 2022

Lycian coast 

Dreams came across the water ...

I saw the moon above the twilight shore -

There was no wind now - 

Dreams came across the water -

12 June 2022

Lycian coast

Swimming after the rain ...

We swam after the rain -

One by one, we gave ourselves to the gentle sea -

The white ship waited for us - 

The waves carried us to a fragrant shore -

12 June 2022

Lycian coast

Soon we will be with the English ...

The voyage is coming to an end - 

Soon we will be with the English - 

The air will become cold -

The jets are waiting - 

12 June 2022

Fethiy5

Twisted pines ...

Twisted pines shaded the stony path -

We skittered over rocks lapped by the turquoise sea -

The pagan sun filled the ancient sky - 

10 June 2022

Lycian Coast 

Cicadas sang ...

Two long limbed girls swam into Cleopatra's Baths - 

Their boys were brown from long summers - 

Oleanders shaded the narrow beach - 

Cicadas sang -

10 June 2022

Lycian Coast 

A glass was filled for me ...

We walked past the villa with the scornful Rus -

The white ship had waited -

A glass was filled for me -

10 June 2022

Ertan

Lycian Coast 

Gangster glamour ...

The two Sunseekers were sleek burnished shapes -

They showed no signs of life -

At night, they were sinister stars -

The floating lairs of gangsters -

10 June 2022

Haman Koyu

Lycian Coast 

Unknown places ...

The young captain showed us the chart -

We saw where we had sailed, past lonely islands and silent bays - 

I saw names, each one mysterious and strange -

Tarsan Adani -

Haman Koyu -

Kayasik Sahile -

10 June 2022

Haman Koyu

Lycian Coast 

Silence like a fine coat ...

I watched the sunrise from the deck of the white ship -

The sky and the sea were a mirror of dream -

I wore silence like a fine coat -

I felt the air from the edge of the world cool my skin - 

10 June 2022

Haman Koyu 

Turkey

Eating mulberries ...

We ate mullberries in the drowsy shade -

Anne picked them from the dark generous tree -

A village woman was a gentle shadow in her garden -

8 June 2022

Candir 

Turkey

The green garden ...

We walked in the green garden -

We sat in the shade of the gentle tree -

There was a circle of bright flowers -

Swallows came here after their long flight -

The wise woman gave us her smile - 

8 June 2022

Candir 

Turkey

Walking on history ...

The ancient city showed its bones to the sun - 

Olive trees shaded its broken walls -

We glimpsed the amphitheatre, cut into the hill -

The Roman Baths overlooked the lost harbour -

There were shards of pottery underfoot -

Anne held up the fragments of a bowl - 

We're walking on history she said -

8 June 2022

Kaunos 

Turkey 

Haul away boys ...

The choir sang sea shanties as we danced across the waves -

Bright spray fell upon our heads - 

The boat rolled and leapt from wave to wave -

The bay was a wild beautiful blue -

Haul away boys, haul away the choir sang - 

8 June 2022

Off the Lycian Coast 

I remembered the lake ...

High above us, stone beds would face sunrise - 

The blue snake of the river coiled through reeds - 

The bright boats passed us with their strange names - 

White villas faced the water - 

I remembered the lake - 

The silence and the sunlight -

8 June 2022

Dalyan

Turkey 

The sun shone upon a dreaming world ...

We followed Volkan through the shining trees - 

We'd driven through sleeping villages - 

Grandfathers in tea gardens sat quietly in their years - 

Mosques cast their shadows - 

The river ran over smooth stones - 

Hidden by warm greenery, we took off our clothes -

We swam in the deep pools of the river - 

The cold water awakened me - 

I was washed clean - 

The sun shone upon a dreaming world - 

4 June 2022

near Kizilyaka 

Turkey 

Return to Karabortlen ...

We returned to Karabortlen -

I saw the tea garden with the mulberry tree - 

The river was still dry, a white spine of bone - 

There were no voices now in Jane's house -

The beautiful garden was there only in memory -

4 June 2022

Karabortlen 

Turkey 

Osman in his kingdom ...

Osman had been making bread - 

His eyes shone with delight and memory - 

He gripped my shoulder, smiling -

He turned to another table, making his lion taming gestures - 

Guzel, guzel he said - 

4 June 2022

Kizilyaka 

Turkey 

If I turn my head ...

We eat olives on the rooftop terrace - 

The Germans laugh with their white teeth - 

I sip my tea in a glass teardrop - 

I can see the castle's pale stone - 

If I turn my head, I can see the sea - 

4 June 2022

Sunset Boutique Otel 

Marmaris