Bosigran, in West Penwith, is famous for its mysterious Iron Age promontory fort and its technically challenging sea-cliff climbs. In WW2 commandos based in St Ives trained on these cliffs for assaults on the coast of occupied Europe. Many young men never returned from these missions. This poem was inspired by a guided walk of the area which took us from Victorian mine workings back into pre-history.
Bosigran
Bosigran here and now
above the ridge on which
young men were trained to climb
the cliffs some never reached
Victorian tin mines
tumbling down through Roman
village outlines Bronze Age
fields still being farmed
drystone granite walls
underfoot flint arrowheads
embedded in a ground
that slopes to promontory fort
a headland liminality
ahead of you the sea
and those Neolithic pastures
green before the flood
and a woman planting seed
you wave and she waves back
squinting eyes against the sun
your silhouette your form
are torn from light
tonight she will conceive
one day you will be born
October 2019