• Home
• Church
• Village
• Parish Council
• FoNCh
• NCP

There was goose-talk behind the hedge,
and on a nearby hill a power-sander,
refurbishing against Nor-Westers,
corroborated the ‘commercials’.
Discarded acorns and pine-needles were
underfoot, and rose-hips stippled a
warm pattern among changing greens.
Frantic-winged wild-fowl sought
cover in hazy and esoteric depths.
A chestnut fell.
Across adjacent fields a car-roof
carried sunlight on an ancient
way – a route known to Phoenicia ere
the D-Day of Vespasian.
Farther on, a goat, benignity in bondage,
chewed the grass within its circle, and
ponies, sensing empty pockets, turned
unsociable tails.
Beyond a farm, where ferns grew from
stone walls, and a dolphin vane was
doldrum-still, the view encompassed
the meeting of marsh and chill-blue
sea, and a lone yacht – stoutly
pretending that the Solent yet reflected the cloud-drift
of an August day.

 

A later version exists entitled October Afternoon which differs slightly in the text and which was included in The Hounds of Cridmore and Other Isle of Wight Poems, a book of Mr Hudson’s poetry with many illustrations by Heather Cobb. It was transcribed in this section on 25th May 2006.

 

 

T. C. Hudson

© T. C. Hudson.

Site provided by Wight Hat web development // www.wight-hat.com // 01983 86>