MEMORIES
by Rosalind Innes
More than fifty years of my memories relate to the Essex countryside very close to where the photograph for the SSE 2003 Christmas card was taken. Such memories cover a multitude of events and people but one stands out especially at this time.
Long before the monotonous stream of aircraft taking off or landing became commonplace, I had found an idyllic, peaceful bank where I could read poetry undisturbed. The proposed second runway would commit the spot to concreted oblivion but at the time I was a student without cares or responsibilities.
I remember the warm sunshine and the trickling water, which, together with the hum of the bees and other insects amongst the wild flowers and a lark singing above an adjacent cornfield, provided gentle background music.
Although with one particular poem I didn't understand all that I read, the beauty of the language blended with the beauty of my surroundings to create a lasting impression. The author was John Milton and the poem - ironically, prophetically, hauntingly - was "Paradise Lost".
