Competition

Second Prize

Spin Me A Net
by John (Norman) Davies
Wales, Great Britain

Spin me a net
Olwen,
To seek for the sun
And my shy words
That are lost
In the depths of the mind.

What is childhood
But wandering to the sea
In the early morning mist?
And what is memory
But the scratching of sand
Within the dampened shoe?

And who am I
Rising with the sun
After the sound of rain
On sad dumb windows?

What was the language
That hid in the mirror?
And the shapes in the book?
What is time
That rots the old boat
Lost on the empty beach?

What was the pain
Of the dead cat
Lying in the dunes?
And what is death?
An old bottle of wine
With the wax of its candle cold

The sea is still,
Stretching
To the blue skies,
The trees rise
From the far off green,
And whisper in the wind,
The warm breeze melts
With its sweet scent

Across the fullness of bloom,
And I hear deep secrets
From soft shadows moist.
I walk from the sea,
Past the net,
Into the cold room
Where the candle peeps
In the corner.
I avoid the deep
And the salt
That burns lips,
And the rope
That chains feet.
The tide turns
And once again
I am a child
In a bright garden
Touching the stars.

So
Spin me a net,
To catch the lark
Alive on morning sunray.

Spin me a net
Clear as a silver chain
To guide me on my journey.

Spin me a net
From the clover white
Bright on Beuno’ s pathway.

And spin me a net
To tempt the raven
And guide me from the shadows.

Bring the words to me
Olwen,
From the deep, deep sea
Of the mind.

NOTES:
Olwen is a legendary character in Welsh mythology (The Mabinogion). Her name means ‘white footprints’, so named because ‘white trefoils sprang up wherever she trod’. The raven is often mentioned in the tales. Beuno was a 7th century Welsh saint, who founded a cell on Bardsey Island (could be Avalon). Beuno’s Way was a pilgrim’s pathway across Wales to holy Bardsey.