Download What a day it was

Tonic for the heart
What a day it was
A high bright sunlit day
Sky and sea
Blue and luminescent.
In a grove of hawthorn trees
Above the Channel
The trees old
Crabbed and looking so
But well attired, billowing with blossom.
And we were
Looking, looking ... looting
The white, pink inflorescence
Because we were
Filling up our carrier bags
With flowers saying ‘sorry, thanks’ and ‘thank you’
To the trees repeatedly, not just because
They looked as if they might fly into a rage
But because the flowers were beautiful
And smelt of something good –
We were making a decoction
Then a tincture (the flowers seeped in alchohol)
As a tonic for the heart.
Then with our bags of blossom
We walked the path along the cliff top
The rush of green and wind shaped hedges
Edged with yellow gorse and bright pink campion
Past beaches, caves and promontories
Lost in colour –
We had to sit down on the grass
And saw twelve swans swimming on the sea
Twelve swans white
The light melting the blue ocean.
What a day it was
That day it was
A tonic for the heart.
© Peter Milner
written in December 2013 about a day in May 2010