richards odes

Church Cove, Gunwalloe

I’ve seen a lot of beauty as I’ve travelled round the world

Coasts and lakes and mountains with majesty unfurled.

I’ve seen the Rocky Mountains from the Rocky Mountaineer

Going up forever and the air so crisp and clear.

I’ve canoed on the Bow River with its water, brilliant blue

And hiked among the Sperrins and the Mourne Mountains too.

I’ve cruised along the Fjiords where the water’s smooth as glass

And travelled on the prairies where there’s nought to see but grass.

I’ve been to Interlaken and walked to Wilderswil

Where Jungfrau, Monch and Eiger stand so majestic still.

I’ve seen the sights of ancient Greece while cruising round the Med

And geysers up in Iceland shooting way above my head.

I’ve loved the lake of Achensee in the Tyrolean heights

And the sultry stillness of some Carribean nights.

Through the canal of Suez with mile on mile of sand

Or way up north in Cumbria, with its lakes so grand.

I’ve seen the souk in Aden and the squalor in Bombay

The temples in Sri Lanka and glaciers cold and grey.

The breakers on the Vendee coast, the cliffs in Brittany.

In Chelsea, close to Melbourne, lightning storms across the sea.

Niagra’s quite colossal falls, and Vermont’s autumn glow

And Vancouver’s Burchard Gardens where all flowers seem to grow

I’ve walked on Guernsey’s rose red rocks and seen the sights on Crete

And Venice in a gondola I felt was rather neat.

My mind is filled with memories of the places I have been

They fill my mind with pictures of the sights that I have seen.

But over all the others my soul is most at peace

In a little cove in Cornwall where my tensions can release.

By a village called Gunwalloe with a church beside the beach

And crumbling cliffs around the sand where breakers push to reach.

The sound of seagulls mewling and the crash of breaking surf

And the sight of golfers playing on some luscious seaside turf.

I sit and sigh contentedly beneath the churchyard wall

And as for any worries, I can forget them all.

Of all the sights around the world I’ve been privileged to see

Church Cove, in Gunwalloe is the only place for me!