Woman, cliff, islands

On the cliff edge
in a white-washed cottage
clinging to the ancient rock
she felt years spread under her feet;
strata of muted colours
threaded here and there
with ribbons of gold.
 
She knew that she would live
precariously, weaving
her stories into song;
Tregeseal, Cape Cornwall, Lamorna
faded tapestries of childhood
made bright again.
 
Now the roof of the cottage
is ablaze with sunlight
and from a bedroom window
you would see the fog lifting,
a woman walking in the valley,
and on the sea’s horizon
the delicate embroidery
of distant islands.
 

Vivienne Tregenza

published in Invisible Borders – New Women’s Writing from Cornwall,
     Hypatia Publications, Cornwall, 2020,
in the simple things magazine, Nov 2020
and in Cornish Modern Poetries, Broken Sleep Books, 2022