Castillo de San Gabriel - Arrecife

It is mid-August, early, a bright summer's morning
When from dirt carpark at Charco de San Ginés

We walk along the promenade towards Castillo de San Gabriel

Following a broadening curve of clear turquoise -

Cyan, not a cloud, no circling gulls but one pigeon, a flock of sparrows

and acacia trees all feathery fronds with scarlet flowers blazing

Where drawn by the sea's quiet calm

And above, the sky huge and astonishing -

We too find little to say

Stopping at Puente de las Bolas drawbridge

- entrance to one of the Castillo's two bridges -

A cannonball atop of each pillar

And further along the bridge towards the Castillo

On the Islote de Los Ingleses

With its striking honey-coloured stone

The ancient high-walled fortress, guarded by cannons -

Padlocked now, closed on Mondays - we cannot enter

But looking down, we watch the ultramarine water spooling below