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St. Leonards, July night 2013

Hannah wanted to paddle,

So we did,

Leaving our shoes and socks

Dry on the pebble bank.

A haze of apricot from the late sun

Softened the silhouette of Beachy Head,

Where tiny dots of light

Pricked out the line

Between tidal forces and the shore.

The moon,

Unnoticed earlier,

Had crept into a sudden blaze of light

Reflected on the stillness of the sea,

Until it fractured

In the turning waves

To broken diamonds in the evening's blue.

Even Hannah's chatter

Calmed,

As we stood,

While shingle oozed between our toes

And twilight's calm

Ravished all our woes.

Brian Hick July 2013

©copyright Sally Hick July 2025

Hannah is our granddaughter, then aged 13