I HAVE walked from Penarth to Cardiff Bay

Glad to escape the claustrophobia of Christmas

Too many people together, very pleasant

But now I have "my own space."

Dark clouds tower over the cliffs of Penarth

Although once the sun finally

Wakes up from its winter sleep and the sky

Is blue unlike so many days gone by.

A golden corridor stretches out to the Barrage

The sea is choppy with a wind

Which at last blows with winter's breath

But Ivor Novello is impervious to the breeze.

Tourists stroll past the Norwegian Church

And pose by the impotent cannons

Trained towards the Barrage and then Penarth

Now immortalised by a photograph.

Seagulls glide and screech on New Year's Eve

Many hours before revellers fill the bars

As an announcer invites people to his boat

But it's early and only two clamber aboard.

I love the morning here before crowds arrive

And sip coffee outside the Cafe Rouge

Thinking about times from the dying year

And hoping the next one will bring more cheer.

Guy Fletcher

Pantmawr

Cardiff