Three Poems Poem by William Fay

Three Poems



1. Butterfly

At Marsden you resemble
Before flight the butterfly
Trembling upon the weight
Of a single flower.
Soon those wings will open,
The salt air is calling.

Away you flap, a pale petal,
A flake of joy, how intense
This span of life in the perfume
The wild colour of the flower
Kingdom in full bloom


Silent being like the breath
Of a falling leaf you hang
In the border between sky
And the limestone jumble below.
A girl falls, and a pink heart
Shaped balloon returns


II.

All summer this dream has held
Tight between the land and sky,
Like the diamond of the kite
Flapping in the too harsh wind.

All summer you have lingered
To see a face, to hear a voice.
Now a hand reaches out frail
Toward the movement of a shadow,

A certain memory, which slips
From this world like the kite
Torn from a fist let loose
Over the earth, the birdless water
To fall like an autumn leaf
In this too harsh wind

III. Pilgrims

A lost dog, sniffing for rabbits scrubs
Scrubs in the grass above the Grotto.
I see then the shrines to the fallen,
The weather beaten greetings cards.
A bunch of flowers turning to straw.

A strange pilgrimage this shall be
The walk along the coastal path,
From Arbeia to the Lighthouse
Through all out history
The begining, then the end.

There is no beam now
To illuminate the twisted rock below.
Tonight summer over
The wind howls through
The Roman quarry, the limestone cave.

Wednesday, February 1, 2017
Topic(s) of this poem: remembrance
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
READ THIS POEM IN OTHER LANGUAGES
William Fay

William Fay

Newcastle upon Tyne
Close
Error Success