Readers may remember back in May this year OnTheWight featured a letter from former Islander Michael Thurstan Bassett.
Although it was sometime since Mike lived on the Island, he was keen to share some of his Island-inspired poetry with readers.
As it’s National Poetry Day today (Thursday 2nd October), we thought it would be an apt time to let you know that Mike has just had a collection of his poems published, ‘Vignettes of Childhood’ and other poems.
To remind you of Mike’s work, here’s one of his Island-inspired poems.
St.Catherines – Niton
Pat
Along the coast, a thick white fog
Beneath a soft blue sky:
And o’er the white and misty cliffs
A silver moon rode high;
While radiant through the vap’rous haze
In a sheen of golden light
The rising sun rose calm and fair
Dissolving star-clad night.
We walked in silence
Thro’ the still, high woods,
With the smell of the sea and the pines:
And the soft wet earth and dripping trees
Glisten’d bright with the sparkling rime.
And suddenly thro’ the clearing mist,
We glimpsed the wrinkling sea,
And watched in muted wonder
As a gleaming gull soared free.
Pure and white against the blue,
It winged the ethereal heights;
A spirit of the viewless winds,
Like poetry in flight.
And she….
She breathless stood, with parted lips
And a soft warm breeze moved her hair,
And I saw in her lovely, spell-bound eyes
That a glory was shining there.
I remember still – does she? does she?
The tang of the wind in the pines,
And the sailing moon and misty cliffs,
And the sound of the whispering sea.
And shall I forget – shall I ever forget
As laughing we ran thro’ the Chine:
And how I became an immortal
When she rested her lips upon mine?
Congratulations to Mike, we’re sure you must be very proud to see your work in print.
If you like what you see, you can purchase your copy of Mike’s ‘Vignettes of Childhood’ and other poems via Amazon.
