Why I Have Never Left Portmeirion(for Ken Smith, in the style of Emily Dickinson's
"I Never Saw a Moor"
I never saw the port,
I never heard the sea;
Yet I waved down a flagstone boat
(an Atlas guided me).
A Golden Dragon's treasure:
the Buddha's missing hand;
A wild, Gwyllt-y pleasure:
the estuary sand.
The Watch House has no clocks,
The bell tower makes no sound;
Yet the humming of a Mermaid's rocks
has rendered me spellbound.