At least once a year I wander down to the beach

Usually on a cooler day

As I am given the space that I require

 

Whilst there I read

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

In its entirety

 

I have not completed this friendly task

So far this year

As I have pretended to be busy

 

 

Jane

Yes

Do you remember

Our Yorkshire conversations

Which one

The one about

Which of Keats Byron

Shelley or Coleridge

Do I resemble the most

 

You replied that

I am unlike

Any of them

As I am

My own person

And that the question

Was quite immature

As it was unlike me

To seek praise

 

Whilst hiding in the shadows

Of another poet

I noted that my question was

A question that did not

Requite an answer

As it was a fluid enquiry

You noted that I resembled

Each of the named poets

But my work was far more oblique

 

We finished our tea and toast

Marvelling at the low clouds

And the bleak moors beyond

You then handed me a copy

Of Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes

As a gift for being so kind

I can remember the moment clearly

As I was wearing your garnet ring on a necklace

Which had been your morning gift to me

 

 

Stan and Jane 

September 2022