Bali Ha'i Sark - Shirley D. Carré

Today's poem is a "Golden Oldie" and was originally published here in March 2012

Far Away our own special island is calling,
On sea approach it beckons to you.
On arrival charms, lures you up to the top.
There it embraces and enfolds you.

Charts show off the indented, forty-mile coast,
Two linked rough diamonds, the larger northeast,
A little island close off its west coast.
The smaller has rocks, a sea stack to its south.

From Guernsey, along the eastern horizon,
It lies - a grey form with sloping-down ends.
Recumbent whale, the sea stack its fluke.
Mist emphasizes its repose and mystery.

On the ferry approach, cotils and cliffs
Resolve into colourful, soft slopes above,
Sheer, fractured facades and gnarly rocky
Coastline below with sea caves, walled coves.

Bendy strata and serpentine balls give
Testimony of awesome ancient forces and
Events uninviting then, fascinating now.
A smudged dark line rings island and rocks.

Not endemic pollution problems, but algae
Living on the edge, at the high water mark.
Your landing has surprises - the walk from
The jetty, through tunnel cutting a headland.

The islands once uplands in a grassy plain
Roamed by aurochs and hunter man.
The in-flooding seas carved the coastline,
The wind and rain smoothed the cotils.

The coast is vertical stage-set for avian
Concerts, ballets, dramas, where birds of
The sea, coast, and cliffs perform.
Their voices welcoming your landing..

At the top is the "Avenue" Sark's village,
Venture farther to discover the jigsaw of
Fields, landscape of scattered house
Clusters, buildings, and Sark time.

Prehistory, legend, history, narrative,
Welded into the landscape, reflected in
House, courtilege, field names, making
This our own special island, calling you.

Shirley D. Carré
Acknowledgement: South Pacific by Rogers and Hammerstein.