When I wake up
from my window I see gulls
flapping across the sky.
I call them seagulls
though London is far from the sea.
I wonder what they gather
as they survey the land below.
Coming home by plane and looking down,
when the Channel reaches the coast
I see the white cliffs and green fields.
I survey the landscape from the air –
how I love that green –
and then London, my city
I love even more.
Waking at home in London
I survey the dawning day,
who is coming, what I have to do
and if it is still early,
as well as looking forward I look back
on more than fifty years in this same house
where my three children grew.
And on what happened in the world
during that half century.
Today is Easter. Christ is risen
and the daughters are coming to dinner,
grandsons too. I am eighty-three
and doddery. Will I cope?
Yes, I think together we will rise
to it and enjoy ourselves.
Time to spring up.