Photo of Nicholas Hagger writing a sonnet, 'At Gunwalloe: Calm and Serene' (Collected Poems, p.625), at Gunwalloe, Cornwall, taken by his daughter Nadia, 22.7.1991 (1)

Photo of Nicholas Hagger writing a sonnet, 'At Gunwalloe: Calm and Serene' (Collected Poems, p.625), at Gunwalloe, Cornwall, taken by his daughter Nadia, 22.7.1991 (2)

From Collected Poems, p.625

AT GUNWALLOE: CALM AND SERENE
Rain spatters the windscreen but down by the cove
All’s calm, and dry, with patches of blue sky,
I cross wet sand to rocks where petrels rove,
Clamber along veined gold and not asking why
Listen to the sea boom into the shore
And wash quietly near my feet; gaze at the church
Which nuzzles against a hill, more hills behind, for
No storms can touch my family as we perch.
All’s calm without, and within I feel serene,
Sea, shore, farm-house, church, graves – all life is here
As our souls gaze out from our bodies at this treat,
On this paradise of shades of blue and green,
As our souls, fed by this wind, drink in this air,
As peaceful currents wash round my weary feet.
22 July 1991