AssonPublishing UK

POEMS  AND POETRY SERIES -THOUGHTS ACROSS A LIFETIME-AUSTIN EDWARD ORCHARD
One of Those Days
Austin Edward Orchard

There were days when life
Had its own rhythm and rhyme
Summer paced,
Easy swing of legs, barefoot
Through meadow grass
High to the knees like a soft
Green lake stirred by the breeze
Heady with the smell of clover
And meadow flowers warmed
By the heat of the day.
Those end of river lazy days
Toes in cool moorland water,
Back sunny side up and sizzling
Where laughter slips easily into
The warm afternoon, like a cool
Drink on a parched and waiting throat.
You know, those laid back days
With a feel of Miles Davis blowing
Some good good notes
While you watch the sun dappled leaves
And think of nothing at all,
Nothing seems to matter and you
Really don't care.
Then someone passes you a taste
Of Africa neatly rolled, its memory
Pungent drifts with the conversation
That hums with the shimmering heat
And a woman's laughter sprinkles itself
Delicately, like a wind chime over the happy gatherings.
Sure you remember those days
Full of loving and gentle games,
Easy on the soul where the children
Nut brown bodied played naked
And innocent, splashing cold jewels
From the clear, clear water,
And you knew that you just
Wanted to smile, a feeling that
Came up from your stomach and
Into your eyes, like a
Lover's caress full of meaning and warm intentions.
And as the day eases itself
Out of the afternoon and ambles
Toward the evening, the sun
Leaves a patina of gold
Like a Midas touch on the
Lanes and hedgerows, you
Saunter homeward full of
The memories of the day just gone
And you know that you are contented with just being
Alive.

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