Derry Sounds

This is a painting based on a black and white photo taken from the childhood of Mervyn Cooke, a poet based in High Wycombe. Mervyn wrote this poem based around the photo and his childhood memories of life of a farm in Derry.

Check out his blog at :-
http://poetryinpubs.blogspot.co.uk/

The poem is as follows:-

Derry Sounds

The burn would run all night and morning
Gurgling seductively outside my bedroom window
Golden brown and bubbling over the peat-moss moors
Sounds of scratching fowls and swishing cows
Cud-chewing to the milking parlour

A sow screamed at the runt of the litter
And I with one eye opened, feel the gentle Derry air
Lift the lace curtain and blow in a ‘good morning’
With its sickly smell of sweet manure
Freshly squeezed milk from bloated udders

A clang of creamery cans
A ‘get-out-of-here’ cry to cats
That craved fresh cream
And I awake on my uncle’s farm
Oh sweet, sweet memory