The Temple Gate Called Beautiful (Acts 3:1)

We gaze across the sea
In an uncertain time
The loons and seagulls flee
As if from serious crime.

The rollers beat the shore
And steal the sand away
I wish that they'd do more
To keep me on this Bay.

The flotsam speaks of wrath
And bonfires on the beach
We filled our pails with Plath
But kept them out of reach.

Then in came muffling mist
From there to what must be
We'll all be on some list
In time, reluctantly.

I don't know where I'll go
When winter kills this scene
But equinoctal glow
Will flare when light is lean.

Under Your Arches

Your arches bewitch me
(I don’t see them much;
But the times that you’re shoeless,
They reach out and touch.)

Then I yearn for that arch
Betwixt waistline and hip;
When I bend down and view it
All my vertebrae slip.

But the arch of your brow
Sends a message of fear;
And your look says it archly:
‘Arch-enemy near.’

And I fear for my health
With the arch of your back;
As you rally your archers
For a bedroom attack.

But McDonalds’ are golden
And yours are magenta;
Underneath Roman arches
We’ll feast on polenta.

There’s an Archway in London –
Shall we go there right now ?
Just to say that we did it ?
Just to stand and say ‘Wow’ ?