Our Clematis in the front garden, ‘Winter Sensation’ is living up to its name, flowering bravely in the bitter wind and rain that have been our lot today.

Here is my second poem this month – a delight for the senses and the imagination, Sunshine Days and Foggy Nights was written by James Kavanaugh, an American poet and a very interesting man. Click here to read more. I love how ‘sunshine days’ and ‘foggy nights’ are repeated through the poem coming together at the end for that is what a life together is –  good days and bad ones – and if you are lucky (or work at it) you come through the foggy nights to share sunshine days. I just love this poem!

I was born to catch dragons in their dens

And pick flowers

To tell tales and laugh away the morning

To drift and dream like a lazy stream

And walk barefoot across sunshine days.

I was born to find goblins in their caves

And chase moonlight

To see shadows and seek hidden rivers

To hear the rain fall on dry leaves

And chat a bit with death across foggy nights.

I was born to rub my hands in dirt

And walk green hills

To plant corn and make bread

To build a house strong against the wind

And to live free across sunshine days.

I was born to watch owls in dark forests

And hear coyotes cry

To feel trees tremble and the grass sleep

To taste cold air and smell the damp earth

And watch ghostly shapes disappear across foggy nights.

I was born to love a man wrapped in sunshine

And dressed in fog

To make a pact on a high hill

Ratified centuries ago by the sun

To walk together through sunshine days and foggy nights.

 

A few days ago I cooked a recipe from my new cookery book (I collect Cookery books. Even after culling after moving house some 8 years ago, I still have well over 100) The new book is Good+Simple by the Hemsley sisters and their Curry Night Fish Curry was delicious. Tonight we had the leftovers with added peas and spinach and, as is so often the case with curry, the flavour was even better second time around.

Fish Curry