I'll soon be off to beautiful Cornwall again. As well as pasties and clotted cream teas, I'm looking forward to rambles down narrow lanes gathering blackberries, going for a hack over the downs and the exhilaration of walking the coastal path. When I get back to the car or the holiday cottage, I'll make notes. In the past, these have come in handy for all kinds of things–characters, descriptions, plots–even poems. One Cornwall-inspired sonnet, won me second prize in Northampton Literature Group's Open Poetry Competition 2010. Here it is.

Eternal Summer

I want to walk down sheltered hedge-lined lanes
Between tall willow herb and meadow sweet,
To watch the mist rise after sudden rains,
Be dazzled by the sun on fields of wheat.

I want to tour the high moors on a horse
Where buzzards glide in cloudless skies, so free,
Emerge from narrow corridors of gorse
And gaze across the diamond sparkling sea.

I want to pluck a peach, but not to eat,
To hold the fruit of sunshine in my hand,
To halt the flood of summer for a beat
And fix its fleeting beauty on the land.

Let thoughts of winter vanish in their haze,
I'll linger in the heat of endless days.