Remember :: Norway

African drum's stretched skin reverberated 
Joyous colourful dances paraded
Ravenna mosaics are fashioned
Where Nobel Peace Prize is presented

Vigeland sculptures whose mouths spoke silently 
Frozen emotions of humanity
Animated into life as we slumber
If our hands touched, we, might waver 

Here, the summer sun warms the blue skies
Green seas of pastures energise 
Cattle scattered hither thither
White-throated dipper twitter 

Trains carve oxidised lines on steep green canvas 
Seasonal waterfalls smooth wrinkles on crevices 
Wild strawberries as sweet as sherbet 
Awaken the tastebuds as they burst 
 
The calves guarded these treasures viciously 
Through the pine forest we dash quickly
Duck and dodge through segmented eye skewers
The herd chased and drove us to the river

Slid down slippery side of the impossible bank 
Sigh of relief rose and sank
Legs turned jelly when hoof prints were apparent 
Headlines flashed wild - "Survived 7/7 only to be stampeded"

Pledged our descendants with beef Fridays 
A commemoration of surviving on this day 
Resounding no to boiled lambs heads
Like The Scream by Munch, empty stare of death

Cycled nonchalantly with adventitious call 
Barricaded by a movable wall
As afraid as the herd's widened gaze
Keep our paused hearts in place 

Toes frozen snap in Fjordland's melting stream
Baby-like gurgling in a dream 
Sat on a rock rubbed flat by retreating glacier
Shared by weary travellers with grateful tears

As the boat approached Bergen's earthy colours by the harbour
Red timbered huts topped with green roofs are favoured  
Like a bride's hair on her wedding day
With flowers adorned brightly in her green hair