We sat at garden tables

We sat at garden tables
On the small pier
Anchored to a lake
With our paper cups of tea

You took monkey nuts
From the shopping bag on my lap
Gulls, coots, ducks and pigeons
Waddled around us

A swan came sailing
Nuzzling the water
The music of its white neck
A treble clef against a stave of trees

The delicate almond blossom
In the hypnotic light
In the hazy grey-blue sky
Daubed the winter trees with whites and pinks

The seagulls flocked
Circling the water fountain
You smiled
A pigeon crept beneath our seats

The sun was a liquid orange
Crushed between clouds
As we went back home
Through the eye of the town’s closeness

FEB 20th