THE BAY IN WINTER

A brassy hot day in a different land,

Gulls mewl

And instantly I remember salty mudflats and mangroves

Far away,

Winter days when drifting showers

Merged into a grey seascape,

Where the only living things in a cold, dull world

Were the starkly white gulls etched against a lowering sky

Screaming their defiance over a desolate land.

© Vonnie Hughes