It’s been so pleasant recently and the beach has seemed so charming, especially in the evening when the visitors have gone that I wish this side of Weston would get ore attention. Here’s a pastiche I wrote a couple of years ago, exploring it’s lovelier side:
I came across this which I wrote not long ago. I have shared it before but it just amused me!
A parody:
Home thoughts from home
Oh, to be in Uphill
Now the tide is high,
And whoever walks in Uphill
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the leaden sea and the muddy shore
Round the tide-line mud from the Severn Bore,
While the seagull squawks on the blackthorn bough
In Uphill – now!
And after low tide, when waves retreat,
And the rubbish dries, and sand worms excrete!
Look, where the fucus sea-weed on the coast
Spreads to the dunes bedraggled marine algae
Bladder-wrack and kelp – at the broke shells’ edge –
That’s the sand flea; he jumps each time so ably,
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The jump despite his tiny stature!
And though the dunes look rough with hoary spray,
All will be dry at noontime and midday
The ice-cream cones, the little children’s dower
– Far sweeter than the unripe bramble’s berry.
© Lois Elsden 2018
… and here is the original by Robert Browning:
Home thoughts from abroad
Oh, to be in England
Now that April’s there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England – now!
And after April, when May follows,
And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows!
Hark, where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge
Leans to the field and scatters on the clover
Blossoms and dewdrops – at the bent spray’s edge –
That’s the wise thrush; he sings each song
twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first fine careless rapture!
And though the fields look rough with hoary dew,
All will be gay when noontide wakes anew
The buttercups, the little children’s dower
– Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower.
PS My featured image is looking from Uphill to Brean Down
Lois Elsden 