The cacophony of church bells
Buildings old and new
Salisbury Cathedral’s forests in stone vying
With Montevetro’s glass wall for their attention.
Artists, music, books, history,
War memorials and unexploded bombs,
Gardens formal, gardens wild,
The river, fast changing landscapes
All too strange to trigger comment.
The words the comparisons just not to hand.
As when, before the Lake Poets defined the Sublime,
The field labourer would do just anything to avoid the wild places
Full of their spiteful sprites.
And so we kept to the things our common culture managed to locate
Rubbish dumps, the varying size of birds, beer, recipes, films and TV we’d never seen,
Insisted on the the existence of Foulness, Dumplington and (joy of joys) Cockermouth,
Sang along with the Great American Song Book,
And took pride in the wonders of the frozen veg in the Toby Carvery.
‘Luxury!’
6 July 2014
Riverview Songs 