St Ives Forever

And so we reached the final day

Of our quaint, Cornish, coastal stay

The week’s been wonderful for weather

But time has flown; we could not tether

Nor tie it down; it seeped like sands

Through fingers of our aging hands

The tide of trust, each day returning

Turned traitor; sold us out by turning

So now we sit on Smeaton’s Pier

Sup our last glass of cider here

Before we leave behind the beaches

For land, as far as railway reaches

Return, via Taunton, to the Peaks

Like Ulysses and ancient Greeks

Returning home to weary warring

Leave waves behind like Trojans roaring

And now we’ll sing with sorrow’s song

Our dream we dreamt down Downalong

Till time and tide moves on, and mercy

Denied to poet Shelley: Percy!

Makes way for us by road or rail

Or ship, with St. Ives on the sail

To go once more to land of magic

Where mermaids, unlike sirens tragic

Will welcome us with open arms

Enchant us with their Cornish charms

When we at last have done with roaming

And like the pigeons bred for homing

Will wing our way like seagulls gliding

Sink in the sea, with seaweed hiding

Then wash up like two shells on shore

To stay in St. Ives evermore!