The End of a Family Holiday.

This morning, Friday, we stood beneath the lakeside willows
Watching two voles wiggle and squirm and slither
Adroitly through the lakeside grasses.
Juveniles on the loose far from the mouthings of mother,
They darted down a slope of mud and twisted vine shoots,
A slope minute to us but of wondrous height to them,
A giant slalom in their world of geese and fishes.-
This is the last day of our family get together;
The suitcases packed, the sandwiches in the freezer:
Tomorrow, at dawn, the day long drive begins,
From Camden Town to the shadows of Ben Bulben.

Last Monday I watched four straw hats bob like coracles
Dipping through shafts of light in the Chelsea Physic Garden,
The compasses lost or stowed.
The zigzag journeys seemed to have no purpose
Except, perhaps, to meander down the pathways
That stretch and curve between contrasted borders.
Sprinklers were scudding rain drops over beds
Of medicinal and malignant crops of herbs
That, when in bloom and sickly rich with pollen,
Become the in vogue hot spots for half of London`s bees.
I once dreamt the Physic Garden was a maze
With the weather beaten statue of Hans Sloane
A tetchy phantom scowling in the centre.

Those artificial rain drops looping through the heat haze
Drench deceitful Belladonnas, the simple Grapefruit Tree,
A mix of Echinacea, Orchids, Borage, the spindly Lavandula,
The unregarded Ice Plant that cures both cuts and coughs.-
Observed by the stern gaze of the stone physician,
I sat and pecked at crisps and crumb flecked apples
While watching the straw hats tack and dip and turn
According to the wisdom of the wearers.
My family look quite raffish in their hats,
Straw boats tilted awkwardly on tides
That ride unruly currents.

This is the last day of our family get together,
Tomorrow the car burns up the road to Ireland,
And I, who will be left behind, at home in North West London,
May walk, from time to time, alone across the Heath,
The chatter of passing strangers            confirming my solitude.


Trevor John Karsavin Potter.
 August 11th. - 23rd. - 27th. - September 7th. 2018.