Winter In Portpatrick (Song) Poem by jim hogg
Winter In Portpatrick (Song)
The snowflakes sit like little mountains
On the branches of the trees
By the harbour there the fountain
It must be icebound in this freeze
I'm not so far from home as you
New York city's cold at Xmas time
Though romance warms Fifth Avenue
The cold Atlantic sways between us
(chorus)
But Portpatrick lies so far from here
In the glen between the cliffs
Where breakers lash the lighthouse pier
And you and I once so gently kissed
And as I write I realise
How much is gone, and how much I still
miss
And from the harbour Irish voices
Over here in search of peace
And all through that fleeting summer
We walked yon far off village streets
Though time and distance win at last
here and now you seem to be so close
I smell your hair, I'm in your arms
We're almost back home in the Port love
I saw her playing her guitar and
softly sing of Auld Lang Syne
Looking so like you I wondered
She brought your sweet face back to mind
Sometimes the old songs carry me
Back across the years to be with you
Where summer winds blew off the sea
Where snow falls now on streets we once knew
But Portpatrick lies so far from here
In the glen between the cliffs
Where breakers lash the lighthouse pier
And you and I once so gently kissed
And as I write I realise
How much is gone, and how much I still
miss you.
Nineteen seventy two/three seemed so far away - on the far side of some un-navigable ocean, and where once there was warmth there was only the coldness of winter and distance. Portpatrick was little changed, to look at, though I'm told that it was snowbound when I wrote this. I couldn't get down then to that little village in the glen between the cliffs and I imagined a girl who was supposedly living in New York feeling even more remote from it than I did.
Might have been a pointless bit of imagining as she may actually have been living in England all along, but the info I had, though much cherished, was a little sketchy and dated right enough - from '78. And England's not far from anywhere... except Glasgow which at times is completely unreachable.... This one is closely related to Leaving Langside, The Light at Killintringan, Dark Harbour and some bits of the Snow on The River series.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Delivering Poems Around The World
Poems are the property of their respective owners. All information has been reproduced here for educational and informational purposes to benefit site visitors, and is provided at no charge...
5/1/2024 5:02:05 PM # 1.0.0.1119
