Land’s End

for Mary or another

After a hard trek comes the sea.
Out of the ardour of noon a coolness.
This is where you are dear to me.

John-o’-Groats is no place to be.
Over the road’s beleaguered hilliness
after a hard trek, comes the sea.

Day drops away as I move free
into the dark of the morning’s earliness.
This is where you are dear to me.

One I have known, or another she
gleams beyond the rubble of maleness.
After a hard trek comes the sea

with voices, moods that disagree
yet shout together in their wholeness
this is where you are dear to me.

At night from darkened rock I see
an Earth-encircling hand of hollowness.
After a hard trek comes the sea.
This is where you are dear to me.