When summer gnats were lightly weaving skeins,
While swift and martin skimmed in graceful flight,
As squirrels danced, and through the leafy lanes
The zephyrs whispered to the solstice night.
When England stood in splendour, green, unbowed,
Cast as the promise of an ancient wood
Of mighty oaks, magnificent and proud,
Wherein we sought the ghost of Robin Hood.
When time regressed, and only you and I
Where locked inside this ’cosm on our own,
Not caring that tomorrow we may die,
Then were the seeds of love so sweetly sown.
Today I stand alone above your bed,
Where cold and darkness are your sharers now,
And in my mind’s eye kiss your lips of red,
And mime again, again, our marriage vow.
Sleep long my Love, for soon I’ll join you here,
Then we’ll both rest in peace while others play,
And share their secrets with a kiss and tear,
As did the young betrothed of yesterday.
[I won a prize for this in a competition, well a certificate; I think it may have been inspired by The Unquiet Grave or more likely The Ash Grove, the former I read as a poem sometime in my teens, and the latter, a very well known song from my schooldays which eventually I learned to play reasonably competently on the classical guitar.]
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