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.
