Frances-Ann Norton: Poetry

                                                              sketchbook drawing by Frances-Ann Norton Red Sail   I have often stood on the canal bank in a reflective frame of mind and seen barges, rowing boats and motor boats pass on the Leeds Liverpool canal. This one though is a small wooden boat. The red sail like a parasol catching the sun in its sheeting. Making it gleam and light up like a flaming arrow in a Viking burial at sea. The people in the boat are guardians of the dead travel guides for the After World. Angels not of this world. Our time here is so short - over in a season. The quartzite gravel on the canal-bed cannot contend with the number of souls of our loved ones. From the beginning of time right back to Adam and Eve. Our bodies grow frail and fail a...