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Charente-Maritime

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I wish I was in St Palais where shards of sunlight teem

In the cool Atlantic breeze of Charente-Maritime;

Where the black kites fly

In a cloudless sky

Like a sultry, Gallic dream,

Where fishermen’s sheds

Tend the oyster beds

In Charente-Maritime.

 

I wish I was in La Palmyre by La Cote Sauvage

A Cafe Viennois for lunch, du pain and du fromage.

Where the mackerel shoal

And the breakers roll

And the daytimes never seem

Long enough to do

The beach and zoo

In Charente-Maritime.

 

I wish I was in Augustine, children in the pools

Long cognacs in the afternoons, evenings playing boules.

Le Train Touristique

Crossing marsh and creek

Of the Seudre and its streams

Steams sedately on

Towards Saujon

In Charente-Maritime.

 

I wish I was in La Tremblade gazing out to sea

Behind a bowl of hot mouclade with French bread for tea.

Where the cattle lie

‘Neath a starlit sky

And the sluggish gullies gleam

Where an egret sifts

Mud for Nature’s gifts

In Charente-Maritime.

 

But now I’m home and Charentime’s a million miles away;

I join the daily rat-race queues with mortgages to pay

But if I should find

That my pompous mind's

Full of vacuous self-esteem

I remember days

Spent in worthier ways

In Charente-Maritime.

◄ Senior

Doing It Twice ►

Comments

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Graham Sherwood

Tue 11th Jan 2011 22:25

Cote Sauvage. John we must have bumped into each other at some stage. This reads like our holidays twenty years ago. The Phare de Coubre lighthouse on that lovely piece of coast. Camping, the Trois Canards restaurant, what a trip down memory lane. Cheers!

<Deleted User> (7789)

Tue 11th Jan 2011 20:56

I don't know this ara but it sounds great - and you're making me hungry!

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Ann Foxglove

Tue 11th Jan 2011 18:04

Enjoyed! I'd join you in a cup of hot mouclade if I knew what it was!

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Greg Freeman

Tue 11th Jan 2011 15:28

Zut alors! Magnifique!

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Ray Miller

Tue 11th Jan 2011 15:23

This is lovely, John, just what's needed on a cold winter day in England.

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