A Cornish Path

A Cornish Path

Today I walked upon soft turf
Within a summers day
Where blue sky met blue sea
Midst pink green thrift
And travelled long a Cornish path
That wandered further than I thought
Steep climbs
First down
Then up I onward fought
To where I sat and watched
Wild seabirds
Wheel and cry
Beneath precipitous cliffs
O’er seas that rolled and crashed
On rocks
Thrown out like jagged fingers
Far beneath
Which
Like gigs
Did battle then with waves
For sport
To send white spume
To billow up
As sails
Set on a spar
Reminding me of ships
That sailed
The oceans
Wild and bleak
The taste of salt
A smell of tar
Then
Walking on
Enraptured deep
In these events
Eventually
I stopped
To catch my breath
And pausing
Watched
The sun
Sink slowly
In the West

Within
My spirit knew
That moment
Then
That even
Should I see
No more
No planet
Was
More beautiful
Than this
On which
We walk
Nor Man
More fortunate
To orbit
Such a star

-

Egal Bohen

Photo Ian Britton - Freefoto.com