Whilst sitting overlooking the sea at Lyme Regis (one of the best places on England’s south coast) I composed some verses. They will form part of a larger work all based on sea experiences. Returning home I picked up this poem by Robert Frost – to me one of the most insightful of poets. It all goes to show there are few new ideas in the world just different ways of expressing them. Although I am not sure he felt about the sea as I do!
Neither Out Far Nor In Deep – Robert Frost
The people along the sand
All turn and look one way.
They turn their back on the land.
They look at the sea all day.
As long as it takes to pass
A ship keeps raising its hull;
The wetter ground like glass
Reflects a standing gull.
The land may vary more;
But whatever the truth may be-
The water comes ashore,
And the people look at the sea.
They cannot look out far.
They cannot look in deep.
But when was that ever a bar
To any watch they keep.
Introspection at the Seaside – Denny Bradbury
Two ladies of advancing years
stopped to say ‘hello’
pass the time and talk of things
they knew of long ago.
The sea was calm, the sun was out
but t’was January cold
then they tottered on their way
somehow not so old.
I sat staring out to sea
bounded by the distant cliff
when a blackbird sang to me
his company too brief.
Thanking him I went to sit
beside the winter shore,
I thought on sea and sky and wind
introspection at my core.
Best wishes – Denny Bradbury
“Far and near, high and clear,
Wassailing – coming from the Anglo Saxon phrase “waes hazel” which means ‘good health’ – is a very ancient custom that is rarely done nowadays. Originally, the wassail was a drink made of mulled ale, curdled cream, eggs, cloves, roasted apples, nutmeg, sugar and ginger. It was served from large bowls, often made of pewter or silver. At Oxford University, Jesus College has a Wassail bowl that is covered with silver and can hold ten gallons of drink. Wassailing was traditionally done on New Year’s Eve and Twelfth Night but some of the richer members of Anglo-Saxon drank Wassail on all twelve days of Christmas. The mixture was sometimes referred to as “Lamb’s Wool” because the pulp of the roasted apples looked all frothy and took on the appearance of lamb’s wool.
Denny Bradbury Books 