The Solution

The blessed sun now shines above,

Pierces the storm and sends its ray

Settling us again upon our way,

Some distant point is now clear defined,

Solution to the riddle in the mind,

The place now reveals its true identity

And life assumes a reassured content.

A more confiding aspect, and the way

Is clear, and I no longer strive in vain,

No longer stray to reach conclusions.

Now is made quite plain the true position –

Reassured we find

Our spirits clear, no longer groping blind.

And suddenly I’m reassured

Of where I am, and that single clue

Gives me reassurance; I can view

The distance now resolved, made clear,

The landscape now appears possessed and sheer –

This single clue will help,

I now no longer grope,

How easily the problem now resolves –

This single ray of hope will end dismay

And draw me closer to my destiny,

Now we retrace our way out through the gloom

Which formerly perplexed us and dismayed.

The problem now is solved

And our end resolved.

Gulls

They squawk in raucous chorus, wheeling round

Above the floating ships where they abound,

Then sweep down in bold and gracious curve,

Then round they go and make a sideways swerve

Then dip right down their greedy selves to serve,

And glut themselves on fish they have observed,

Down they dip and from the lambent water tweak

A glittering silver fish in yellow beak.

Then up again they wheel astride

Currents of air in their admitted price,

Then slip sideways above the water and glide

Into a motion of their own,

Sailing aloft as if they had been blown

Without a conscious effort of their own,

Then they strut along the harbour wall

Preening deliberately their silver wing,

While occasionally to them fisherfolk fling

Discarded parts of gutted fish –

To the palate of a gull a dainty dish.

Beside the quay they bob upon the sea

Rocked to the ocean’s rhythm silently,

With a slow motion on the drifting tide –

Then take off and the air currents ride

In slow circles drifting round

As if unconscious whither they are bound.