Sunday, February 8, 2009

298. Grey Wind.

                            Clare Gascoigne

As you would expect our long, hot summer days are usually just that....long and hot. But not today.


GREY WIND.

Today the wind was grey.
On most summer days here
 The wind is silver.
It blows off the sea
Piling up avalanches of foam,
Great cream puffs of it,
Whirling towards us,
The skiiers balanced precariously aloft.
But today the wind was grey.


On most summer days here
 The sky aches with blueness.
Bleached gulls like leaves,
Toss and swirl.
The distant waves
Are shards of hot glass,
Dancing.
But today the wind was grey.


On most summer days here,
We seek shade,
Sliding in under a sheltering wall
To drink cold lemonade from a flask.
Even the shadows glow with warmth.
Ecstatic babies are zinced and hatted,
And warned.
'The sun will get you if you don't watch out!'
But today the wind was grey.


It blew off the land to the west of us.
It had travelled over the Great Divide,
Picking up moisture as it came.
Now it waits, a purple premonition;
There will be a storm tonight.


It will be an Australian storm.
Yet the grey wind has been
The wind of the English Channel.
I am a child again,
Dancing in and out of those miniscule waves,
Until my feet go numb.
I must be rubbed dry,
Briskly.
Babies run naked;
The cruelty of the sun
Has not yet been discovered.
And the wind is always grey


Today I walked along the edge of the sea,
A chiffon scarf
Trailing behind me,
Or so it seemed.
A dove-grey scarf.
For today the wind was grey.


9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love the imagery.

Carolyn said...

I know those grey winds! Lovely verse. Thank you for sharing.
Smiles

Anonymous said...

you have your art firmly rooted in poetry!
beautiful! :)

http://eternitycallsus.blogspot.com/2009/02/art-imitates-life.html

danni said...

how well i know those gray winds and the purple sky of preminition --- and how beautifully and artfully you have expanded them in your post --- simply beautiful --- great music, too - shades of my childhood!!!

Darlene said...

Today we are having a rare gray wind in Arizona. Rain was predicted, but as yet it eludes us. Maybe tonight.

Are those raging fires near you? I hope not. Take care, Brenda.

Bee Bee said...

I loved the poem... I could see the beach, the people, babies and the heat and the cooling grey wind..
WOnderful imagery..

Kat said...

Only you can colour the wind Brenda..!!!!

The Clever Pup said...

Wonderful piece of writing. I could feel the English Channel part and those hard pebbles - no place to lay.

Cyn Bagley said...

Beautiful.