Poems written by Peter Gibbs over 60 years, inspired by romance, travel, the beauty of nature, emotions and family and friends - peterspoetry.co.uk
Zig-Zag Sunday
By Old Park House where centuries
Have passed the white-washed wall
A carven post and verdant paths echo the Dial Hill call
From flower-strewn lofty vantage point
Above the slumbering bay
The dawn-eyed watcher scans the hills and fondly greets the day
Down the Zig-Zag to the town,
Lit by the brightening sun
The early walker strides along with nature linked as one
No company but slug and snail,
No sounds but wind and bird
A Sunday symphony of life not by the sleepers heard
He savours each new vista
As his route it gently drops
To Hill Road's regal line-up of shuttered silent shops
Past mansions bathed in sunlight
Bellevue and Elton Roads
Past banks and lovers' letters waiting sorting by their codes
And then the promenade along
The sea-defending wall
In sight of the Victorian pier that waits the steamer's call
Past trees bent back by Welsh-sent winds
And bandstand locked in time
Past white gulls foraging in mud, past bins upturned by crime
The flags of nations catch the breeze
Alongside Salthouse Fields
Where giddy rollercoaster rides sit covered and concealed
Across train tracks and waiting swings
From out the trees there swells
To call the faithful to their prayers, a summoning of bells
And then the climb up Poets' Walk
Where others strolled before
To look upon the waters deep where galleons ply no more
He turns and sees old Clevedon
Set proudly on display
Beneath the hill where he began his happy Zig-Zag way.