Breath of the Norfolk Broads

I was standing by water,
dreaming of the summer,

when she appeared, 
a wherryman’s daughter

on a black-sailed trader
among the whispering reeds.

A grebe on her shoulder,
a spring breeze in her hair,

she brought it with her
on the breath of the Broads:

the tinkle of laughter,
swans swimming in sunshine,

and the ghosts of wherrymen
lost in the mists of the fens.

Kim M. Russell, 25th April 2022

On the twenty-fifth day of NaPoWriMo, our prompt is based on the aisling, a poetic form that developed in Ireland. An aisling recounts a dream or vision featuring a woman who represents the land or country on/in which the poet lives, and who speaks to the poet about it.

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