Gibraltar: Jackie Anderson

Available for over a year

TO THE HARBOUR By JACKIE ANDERSON We used to walk to the harbour, You and I, On summer evenings And watch the sky drown in flames Into a sea ablaze with the fires of sunset. And we would gaze in childish wonder At the purple silhouettes Of the Spanish hills, their grandeur Distant forms of closer shadows. In hushed whispers, So the silent boats Could not hear our simple dreams Of travels beyond The gates that hemmed us in, We dangled lines into the green sea To catch the gleaming fish That teemed, like silver streaks Between those towering sides of steel with painted names, Foreign marks that spoke of distant shores And all those tempting places, With green hills, With forests wide, Rivers, mountains, Herds of cows, Horses to ride, Fast cars and motorways, Fresh milk - Pasteurised, not UHT - And most of all, With jobs, and universities, With endless opportunities, So much more than we, Prisoners in house arrest, Could ever hope for.