Island romance 1958

Island romance 1958

The heat in the concrete city is oppressive.
Only two days left two sleeps.
And we will go to the island for a holiday.
Dad gets two weeks from every August.

We leave Manchester 
and it's smoke stained walls.
And drive to Anglesey
on the north west corner of Wales.

Every year to the extremity 
of the land to the irish sea.
I am fourteen my sister is ten 
We will be away from the city

Where a fishing boat means a tin can 
With a Johnson 9.9 putting behind it.
There is fresh sea air 
Clear waters teaming with mackerel.

We will catch a bucket full
Mom will fry them 
and serve them with butter.

Fresh from the farm
just down the lane.
The eggs come
from happy chickens.
That strut around a farmyard.
That reeks of animal poo.

I sit on the beach
And watch the girls playing ball
They are beautiful.
But I am lost in the no man's land
Between boy and man.

I notice her shake her hair
It's blonde and has natural waves.
Her bikini starting to fill out.
She looks way too unattainable for me.

But I watch her and she notices.
That was the summer
I kissed a girl for the first time.
In the barley fields.
Hidden by the grass from 
anyone but God to see.

I fell in love with her
And it broke my heart 
For the first time
When we left to go home.

Then I was twenty four
I went back to Anglesey
And sat on the beach 
Watching the boys 
watching the girls
play ball.

A shadow fell across me.
The bright sun behind her
Her hair was blonde
And naturally wavy.
She was beautiful
Hello again she said.
May I sit here
Yes of course please join me.

I am thirty
Not much changes
on the summer beach 
At Anglesey.
I sit watching my children 
play in a rock pool.

A boy and a girl .
The boy looks a lot like me
But the girl 
looks like my beautiful wife.
Her hair is long and blonde.
With natural waves in it
Framed and highlighted
by the summer sun.