Poetry by Margaret Royall: SUMMER IN THE MIDI

SUMMER IN THE MIDI

Laughter and langoustine
Fun and frivolity
Crested waves on warm sea
Beneath cotton-wool clouds
Soft sands, where beach babes
Chat on iPhones cheek by jowl
Luscious-limbed and scarlet-lipped
Picnic baskets full to the brim
“Du pain, du vin et du boursin”
Bastille day in the square with
Fanfares, fandangos and ice-cream
The Marseillaise belting out
As blousy girls kiss macho men….
Delight shining in toddlers’ eyes
as fireworks scream high overhead
rounding off the carnival

Medieval villages time forgot
Tempting finds at wayside brocantes
Expansive countryside, big skies
Cobbled town squares, alive with bars
and bistros, lager flowing free
The monotone of church bells tolling
As veiled widows lay flowers on graves
Awakening each day, assured of sunshine
and cloudless skies
to warm the bones and lift the spirits……
This is my France, my Summer,
The memories of way back then –
When my soul came alive and sang!
Yearning for a bolthole in the sun
A place to write, to paint, to dream
These vibrant memories uplift my soul
in the dark midwinter gloom