England

From along your bonny shores,
All your words slipped out to sea
Under tides of salted foam, their form
Retained their mystery
Until they found my port
Until they came to live with me.
And through the tempest, and the storm,
We became each other’s lee.

Now we have grown, intertwined,
Like two branches in the wind
Holding hands in like kind
Until our hands can mend.
I sheltered, you refined:
We became identical, adoptive twins.
And all the words I can find
Came first from you, my friend.

Very soon, I’ll fly to you,
To the place where you were born.
I’ll see your heather, and your blue
Your grey and misty morns.
I’ll walk your cobbled dew
Along the path already worn
By those whose hearts were true,
By those whose oaths were sworn,

To face what cannot be subdued
To write what can’t be mourned