THERE’S a flowerbed painted yellow and orange

Before the wild flowers entrance my eyes

A rainbow of hues: blue, pink, indigo

Yellow, red and white with bees and butterflies

Hovering as the flowers wave in a breeze

Refreshing and at home in the summer.

The sun sprinkles silver into the sea

And I feel serenity inside me.

I observe the sad wrecked relics

Of boats no longer able to venture away.

This is their grave and seagulls screech

A lament as placid waves lap against the rocks.

It is high-tide on this Friday morn

And I am alone watching the scene

Seagulls glide under a warm August sky

The Barry Island wheel catches my eye

With Somerset hills half shrouded in mist.

A tanker and sailing boat are in my view

With winter storms a distant memory

For the water is as calm as a pond.

I pluck a petal from the flowerbed

It is silky, but alas, now doomed

Yet like the petal problems drift away

By the flowerbeds on this summer’s day.

Guy Fletcher

Pantmaw

Cardiff