Wednesday, 13 November 2024

PORTHTOWAN FROM MISTY COOL TO SUNNY WARMTH... (My new poem about a day in Porthtowan, Cornwall, November, 2024...)

 Porthtowan From Misty Cool To Sunny Warmth…




It was early morning. It was a Monday. Few folks were present.

Some dog walkers, unsurprisingly, littered the spacious  

Sands and a few surfers patiently lingered

In the receded tide, awaiting a surge, a ride, a thrill.

The mist drifted, hiding, then exposing headlands,

Like in a game of geological hide and seek, whilst bands 

Of low cloud sprinkled barely noticeable drizzle at will.

I scoured the east cliff’s heather and gorse, as I hankered

For choughs to appear but they remained hidden and cautious

As I tarried high above the ocean and its motion incessant…     


It was early afternoon. More folks were scattered around.

 Some dog walkers, naturally, dominated the dwindling beach

And a number of surfers casually waited

For the incoming tide to rear up a breaker, a rush, a surge.

The sun’s rays gleamed like footlights upon the exposed cliff faces 

As if in a theatrical performance, for by then, all dull, misty  traces

Had disappeared and the brightness had encouraged in me an urge

To retrace my earlier steps. And I was not to be disappointed

This time, for three choughs flew near me, just out of reach

In a flamboyant display, designed to impress and certainly astound…



Pete Ray

11th November 2024…


A strangely bleak and misty Porthtowan morning in November, yet surprisingly mild.





No choughs were spotted at that time but later in the day, the same walk along the east cliff in unseasonably sunny weather enabled me to spot those fine Cornish birds… 

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