PoetryKenneth WebbJuly 27, 2024Summer is Here, Lillie and Noah, Edinburgh University, The Late Queen, Balmoral, Scottish Borders, Highlander, Highlands, Wellington New Zealand, Byron Coleridge Keats Wordsworth

Summer is Here!

SUMMER IS HERE!

From the Poetry Archive (2020)

Introduction

This was written on the moment’s spur, and staying in what today seems incredibly formal and unreal English, despite being only four years ago. When I prompted AI to give me a portrait of a young couple from New Zealand ~ Lillie and Noah ~ it actually gave me this impression which was pretty close to the inward eye as I wrote the piece. As Kiwis they just happened to both be in Scotland, Lillie in the Highlands,

Namely, that Lillie is carefree, resolute, happy, fully of life and a Highlander because, quite simply, the Highlands remind her of home, and the mountains and wondrous terrain of New Zealand. Noah hails Wellington, New Zealand and lives in the Scottish Borders and in his final year at Edinburgh studying Scottish Law. Lillie pulls his leg about his formal mode of speaking, although if we all saw them out together with friends, there would be no formality of language. Indeed, their Kiwi accents blend perfectly with the Gaelic lilt.

Noah is greatly influenced by Byron, Coleridge, Keats and Wordsworth and as he often says with a twinkle in his eye, Lillie, pet, I can’t be speaking like you want me to speak when I’m in Court. I have to speak the Queen’s English.

Secretly, Lillie loves the formality! And they give us a true blend of the greater people of Scotland, for Lillie is quite determined to argue for independence, whereas Noah sees safety in the Union. Will they go back home? Most probably. But they love it here, too. Scotland is very, very special.

On the day that the late Queen died at Balmoral, most were sombre. They were witnessing the passing of an Age and an Era.

Lillie was staying over in Edinburgh and visited Noah in his rooms. She was taken aback.

Noah was calm. He smiled, it was genuine, but it belied something else. He said just one thing.

Lillie, thank god whoever or whatever god is,
that it happened up here.
The resignation and appointment of prime ministers
and, two days later, this!

It was one of those times when she was oh so glad that Noah is Noah for all his faults. They were knit together already, and this knitting would prevail in the century, regardless of what it held for them both.

Summer is Here!

Come!
Let us walk together, you and I
The evening is calm,
the air is warm,

Summer is here ...

Well Livvie, that’s how Mom and Dad
would say it … oldies!

We’ll say it OUR way!

Livvie laughed,
taking in the gorgeous New Zealand sea breeze.
Sure, Noah! You know best!!

…giggling as she squeezed him.

So Livvie, here goes, gorgeous …

Let’s keep our hearts and minds on high things
Let’s see delight in our kids
Let’s marvel as day breaks
Let’s sleep til noon, Let’s …

NOAH! Shuh!! You’re attracting attention.

We’re not the only ones on this beach!

I know!
I’m performing!!!

Now, where was I? Oh, yeah…

Let’s walk together, hand in hand
like we always do.

Let’s look to the future.
See wide open spaces teeming with people
See the walkways and boulevards,
piers and dunes
filled with noise, the raucous delight of our kids,
then seeing them resting again when we kiss them goodnight
and turn out the light.

Hey Livvie, let’s even look forward to grandkids!
Peace, though saying not a word,
because they sense from Ma and Pa
that danger has passed.

We’ve gotta seize the day Livvie!
Seize the hour!
We have to think this…

How does your dad put it?
Oh, yeah… ‘Imbue’

To imbue this within the tissue and fibre
of our very souls and being…

I like that bit Noah.
But don’t tell dad otherwise he’ll
think he’s Keats, Edwards and Shakespeare
all rolled up into one!!!

Noah picked her up by the waist,
Swinging her round and round.

Put me down Noah!!!
in fits of delightful giggles.

Now hang on Livvie,
I’ve lost my thread.

Yep, your Ma says you do that a lot!!!

“For you and …”

Ah yeah, stop it. Got it. Got it… Hang on…

For you and I are but One.
We are two halves of one whole
Knit together.
No happenchance!

Or summat like that.

We are meant to be.
And it is this – this Confidence – that indwells us
and is the anchor, our future, our family, our life
and, yes, life after, too.

As someone once said and I know who,
one soul in two bodies …
Well, we certainly know that to be true.

So, come on Livvie, race you to the point …

And now Ma and Pa’s more sedate version that seems to stand the test of time for the oldies among us

Come!
Let us walk together, you and I
The evening is calm,
the air is warm,

Look! Summer IS here ... … …

Let us keep our hearts and minds on high things
Let us see delight in our children
Let us marvel at the breaking of the day
Let us slumber at the noon day
Let us walk together, hand in hand
as we have always done.

Let us look to the future.
Let us see wide open spaces teeming with people
Let us see the walkways and boulevards,
The piers and the dunes
Filled with the throng and delight of children at play,
Of our children resting again,
Of our grandchildren, in peace, though saying not a word,
Because they sense from their parents
That the danger has passed.

Let us seize the day!
Let us seize the hour!
Let us think this,
And imbue this within the tissue and fibre
of our very souls and being.

For you and I are but One,
We are two halves of one whole,
We are knit together.
There is no happenchance!
We are meant to be.

And it is this – this Confidence – that indwells us
and is the anchor, our future, our family, our life
and, yes, life after, too.

As someone once said
and I know who,
one soul in two bodies …
Well, we certainly know that to be true.

So, come!
Let us walk together, you and I
The evening is calm,
the air is warm,

Look! Summer IS here ... … …

Original “composed a few minutes ago, 29 October 2020 10:43 pm UK Time.”

This New Second Edition, gives us the same poem through the eyes of Livvie and Noah, from New Zealand,
and their Ma and Pa, Steve and Heidi.
Pa’s a songwriter and performer, and has that gift of writing in several genres.

The revised version, composed 2 May 2023

This New Second Edition is written 27 July 2024

Kenneth Webb

Ken Webb is a writer and proofreader. His website, kennwebb.com, showcases his work as a writer, blogger and podcaster, resting on his successive careers as a police officer, progressing to a junior lawyer in succession and trusts as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives, a retired officer with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, and latterly, for three years, the owner and editor of two lifestyle magazines in Liverpool.

He also just handed over a successful two year chairmanship in Gloucestershire with Cheltenham Regency Probus.

Pandemic aside, he spends his time equally between his city, Liverpool, and the county of his birth, Gloucestershire.

In this fast-paced present age, proof-reading is essential. And this skill also occasionally leads to copy-editing writers’ manuscripts for submission to publishers and also student and post graduate dissertations.