Northumberland

 

Silver Sand beneath my feet, held by grey Marram grass
Blue Hare Bells, purple clovers and yellow daisies
in two great crests of dunes as you approach the sea 
The sand is gilded by the seawater,  
A broad ribbon of gold that leads from the southern harbour
to the northern bays
Here and there low black rocks, full of pools 
Slippery with bladder wrack, cut the golden sand like runes
Above me rises the great Castle of Bamburgh,  
far to the south the cracked teeth of Dustanborough
to the north the castle of Lindisfarne
and a half mile  south is a broken eggshell of a pillbox 
A precious land to be so fortified 
Now the defences ring to the sound of the sea birds 
Swirling high the terns screech 
The gulls call the wildness from the harebell blue sky
Out on the wild sea a white star of a gannet, 
the roman nosed Eider, cuddys ducks, bounce in the surf 
hurtling over the sand so light of foot till she turns, 
our Kaya, one of many happy dogs running 
where Oswald and Aidan walked, 
where Norse raiders drew up their boats
Now a place of peace, gentle colours rest the eye
Silver, gold, warm stones, a blue of blue in the sky,  
The rich warm colours of the Turnstone,  
the wintry shades of the early Sanderlings
This is worth defending, this is worth keeping