Lindisfarne

I know this place;
mist hangs over a glistening sea, lit from below,
That morn we walked on grassy slopes
and sheltered amongst the ancient stones.

I know the sea birds;
recall their raucous cries;
they swoop for silver fish,
To carry up to rocky crags and ledges
where hungry nestlings wait.

I know the hush;
the children speak in quiet tones,
they whisper, awestruck,
As if they’d wandered into a cathedral,
not a sea-misted isle.

I know the fishing boats;
lurching, bobbing
and creaking on their moorings,
They wait impatiently for tides
to take them out beyond the islands.

We didn’t know the place then,
that time when everything was new to us,
But I have revisited a thousand times in dreams.
Now I know it well.