Thursday 31 October 2019

Open Ground

Garrow Tor is the second highest hill on Bodmin Moor after Brown Willy and is wonderfully harsh and elemental.
   Cape Cornwall, in the far west, is the only cape in England and Wales, and is a ferocious sight with a full gale blowing and the surf exploding over the offshore Brisons.

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I must get into open ground,
The city crushes me,
High on Bodmin to fling around
Or shout beside the sea.

Ah, the brown flanks of Garrow Tor,
Streaming under rain,
Whipped raggedly by the wind’s roar
Are to me pure gain.

And in the cove at Cornwall Cape
As the breakers leap and scream,
The slapping spray on the neck’s nape
Is like waking from a dream.

Oh, the high sky, the moorland track,
Rock, sedge and pool,
Are fresh as childhood given back
Hushed in the morning cool.

And wide-miled sands at slack of tide,
Tart with the water’s breath,
Are absence where the seagulls glide
Yelling of life and death.

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© April 2015