"Surrounded By Mountains"

A Poem by Steven Pottle

The skyline is divided by the vast land rising
And the sunshine cannot find the time to shine
The lack of daylight takes some getting used to…spooky and unusual
But the small wooden houses on the hemline gives us that twinkle of Norwegian glow…the red wine helps also
We start our holiday being surrounded by mountains
Nothing bigger here except the warm welcome from strangers

Overwhelmed by the hospitality of people we hardly know
We either travelled in Per's tiny red car or in the back of Trond's mad van
Fast bending foreign roads on what seemed the wrong side
Excitedly exclaiming, “There's a reindeer, there’s an iced waterfall, there’s a raven, there’s another reindeer”
I’m both sleepy and rearing to do everything- we park and unpack our picnic

The impressive peaks wall our view
Wearing their snow covered caps
Looking down onto this cold beach with us captured blue
Are they wondering who are these people all starring back up drop-jawed?
Our new friends who are familiar with their surroundings and the tourists snowed over by the greatness of nature…

I’m standing alone away from the group, balanced on the rocks by the sea
Gjende biscuits washed down with warm flasks of boiling tea
And I’m hoping Dad is out there somewhere and he can see me
He would have loved this, so I gulp up a smile and a happy tear
“Just look at where we are…and remember how much I love you”

Fetch our breath in time to travel back round the coastline
Over steep bridges, through dark fishing villages, free into the early night time
The day feels over (the day has actually only just begun)
The lamps in the windows of the chocolate box houses lead us into town and into our hotel room
Sad that we didn’t get to see those famous green beams
The goddess of dawn, her North wind blows undetected over keen cloud cover
Doesn’t matter…the Baileys help to relieve the grief
Falling asleep with fuzzy reflections of being surrounded by those mountains.