NORTHERN SHORE

So my phone won't wake up. I set it off on a sleep cycle last night, trying to monitor my insomnia and it ran out of charge, despite being plugged in. Now it won't turn on. At all.

So, apologies if you're one of the dwindling minority of people who might have texted me.

Meanwhile, Emmie set a poetry challenge all the way from Canada, yesterday, based on a painting by Arthur Lismer. I was going to Whats-app it today, but that won't be possible.

So, here it is:


Northern Shore

One October afternoon
When all the world was still
The sunlight fell on blue lagoon
As Arthur climbed the hill

He scrambled over golden rocks
Through autumn's faintest breeze
His easel and his artist's box
Above the turning trees

Above the earth beneath the sky
The rolling clouds came scudding by
And summer waved its last goodbye
To all the world before
And Arthur dreamed and painted on
Beneath the fading summer sun
Where memory would linger on
Upon the Northern Shore

One October afternoon
When Arthur's eyes were old
He knew that winter very soon
Would take its bitter hold

But smiling there upon the wall
His painting long ago
Reminded him of autumn's fall
And all he used to know

For all the world was captured there
The lake in autumn hue
The beauty of the sun-kissed air
The sparkled water blue

Above the earth beneath the sky
The rolling clouds came scudding by
And summer waved its last goodbye
To all the world before
And Arthur dreamed and painted on
Beneath that fading summer sun
Where memory would linger on
Upon the Northern Shore