Beach Of Dreams Poem by Mike Tonkin

The tide was half in,
and we were cut off,
cut off from everywhere
my mother and I.
A stretch of bright virgin sand,
and on that yellow canvas
I lived my waking dreams.
A pirate band,
a shipwrecked crew,
a land of sand and desperate
heat, and
armies at my beck and call.
When I tired of these there.
were caves, caves
as dark as hell, and
pools, as deep as the
Midnight angelus
Small fish became sharks and
Sea Horses were magical
mounts that carried you
to nirvana.
We built dams to rival
the mighty Boulder,
and played cricket to make
England proud of us.
We clambered up onto the
cliffs my mother and I,
and stood where miners
stood, and in my minds
eye we walked out under the
sea and heard rocks crashing
in the turbulent tide above our
heads, and if I closed my eyes
I could see men drowning
in the cause of tin.
There is a place there,
a natural place,
where two people can sit
and talk.
I learned something of the
art of conversation,
and when it was best to
be silent and just look
around me.
I learned so much from
my mother
about this land of wreckers,
fishing fleets, miners and
men who tilled the soil.
It was an exiting world,