It was summer half term back home last week, a time when for many years we visited "The Fortunate Isles" that incredible archipelago of islands off the southwestern tip of Cornwall - The Isles of Scilly.  And, after a break of a few years, some of the family went back to this little paradise set in an azure sea, when the sun shines!  Unfortunately, I didn't, but went walking and therefore thinking on one of the days and this is the outcome:

Journeys                                      June 2012

Thousands of footsteps o’er thousands of years

Have trod these stones beneath my feet.

Journeys; long and short, happy or sad,

Leisurely or rushed, sun or rain,

Day or night, alone or in a crowd.

Journeys for reasons untold or forgotten

Through different seasons, over countless years.

I journeyed here in the hot evening sun

Just a day or two before,

An expedition leisurely but secretive,

On the lookout for shy deer that come from

The dark shadows of the wood as the sun’s shadows lengthen.

But my journey, this afternoon; alone but less leisurely

As the sun shines weakly and the wind blows strong,

Clouds racing across the sky

Like billowing sails high o’erhead.

Into the trees and into my thoughts,

Memories of now and yesteryear,

As into a shady “silent” spot

Sheltered from the wind that blows.

High above leaves roaring and thrashing like an angry sea.

Beneath, dark gnarled trees like ancient stags at bay

Or Tolkienesque statues, with many a tale to tell.

Wind on the corn like rolling waves,

I closed my eyes to the sound of the sea

Transported to an exposed rocky shore,

At that moment rain carried on the wind

Like saltless spume.

Wind; wild, strong, warm

With the hint of faraway lands

Distant shores and hidden whispers of journeys taken.