THE END OF ENGLAND
Above the blustery assault of the sea breeze on the land,
Yellow voices animated about 1707 and Union.
Berwick on Tweed - wet Saturday afternoon:
Market place cats hiding under wind-whipped stalls,
Germans and Americans strolling the old walls
Clutching yellow anoraks in the teeth of the gale.
River choppy and clean, sea unfriendly, pale.
The end of England.
7 October 2019
………………………………………………………………………………
Note: Berwick on Tweed is the last town
on the English side of the border with Scotland.
Categories:
berwick, culture, wind,
Form: Rhyme
BERWICK – ON – TWEED MARKET
Cold, even in summer
Vast bastide hides the place.
Tweed widens and shallows:
Its sallows harbor salmon.
In the ancient market place
Sneaky ancient marketeers pace,
Their faces seeking trade:
Fowl, flesh, or fish
Old or fresh, for cash.
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NOTES
*Bastide means a fortified town, often with wide extensive
earth embankments surrounding the entire settlement.
*River Tweed is on the border between England and Scotland
*Berwick is a small town on the border.
Categories:
berwick, places
Form: Free verse