We were picking up shells while the tide was out
In a landslide of limpets and chalk
The tide came in as a steamer sailed out
And my sister said, "Let's take a walk"
Up to the downs along concrete roads
Built sixteen feet wide in 1959
One hundred and ninety-six feet above sea-level
One and a quarter miles from the coast
In the sun with a view of the straddling town
Where the wind whistled the wire of a long forgotten fence
I was nine years old, my sister was eleven
She looked demure, I was dishevelled
That was July 1962
In a summer that lasted for years and years
When we learned to ride bicycles, swam in the sea
And got sunburned and blistered in the warm south-east breeze
We chased a man with a walking stick who was simple
We called him Algy and he didn't like us
And down on the steps that led to the beach
An old man with a baton conducted an invisible band
Up to the downs along concrete roads
Built sixteen feet wide in 1959
One hundred and ninety-six feet above sea-level
One and a quarter miles from the coast
In the sun with a view of the straddling town
Where the wind whistled the wire of a long forgotten fence
I was nine years old, my sister was eleven
She looked demure, I was dishevelled
As we looked for lost balls in the gorse and rough
Of the Lurline Golf Course where the grass was yellow
Yellow and sharp and we got chased by a man with a stick
We called him Algy and he didn't like us
And down on the steps that led to the beach
An old man with a baton conducted an invisible band
Comments (0)