Bertie presents a Nature Friday Sonnet

 

Bouncing Bertie's Sonnet no.1

A summer afternoon so blithely spent,

An amble down the coastal path to Cove,

The dog and human perfectly content,

The route a vibrant floral treasure trove.

Harebells and willowherb and meadowsweet,

And vetch, angelica and tormentil,

And thistles various, and to complete

The scene, a spotted burnet moth, quite still.

To one side, sea, for once both blue and calm,

Inland, the railway line, a train glides by,

And nearby, from the local rare breeds farm,

Some longhorn cattle languorously lie.

And up above, fine wisps of cloud, so light

And fragile – an ephemeral delight.  

        

PS from Gail: Lovers of English poetry might have noted that Bertie's Nature Friday sonnet owes a debt to one of my all time favourites, Adlestrop by Edward Thomas, a poem so evocative of the countryside in England in high summer. It was also inspired, of course, by a walk Bertie and I took on Wednesday this week, down the coast just south of Aberdeen, from Doonies Rare Breeds Farm to Cove Harbour.