The Estuary (North Wales, 1981)

The Estuary

At any time of the day or night
The sheltered estuary glows.
And around its deserted shores
Mere marram grass grows.

Soft hills run down to the water,
Peopled by cows and by sheep.
There are many earths and sets and warrens
And other digs where wild animals sleep.

Nothing alters more than subtly here,
Where the river and land meet the sea.
Rain erodes the soil and rocks
But never more than slowly.

Slowly turns the tide again
As predictable as time.
The distant child runs home again,
From the hills he dare not climb.

And I can never return to the estuary
Because every man must change
And I fear the haven I once saw there
Will be gone or damaged or strange.