Some Days, Cookham

On some days

there are angels with wake-up trumpets;

there are wind-buffeted weddings

with tablecloths billowing and guests blown

backwards, last cake, last supper,

what a hullabaloo!; there are blue boats

and swans tucked under an arm,

upping and downing, every one counted,

not a single feather missing;

there are the clamorous dead rising

out of their graves, desperate for river,

for a splash and a frolic, for the blessing

of water, all the way to Jordan.

And on some days

it’s peaceful, dragonfly-dozy,

geranium-red, terrace-tidy,

and a mirror-mirror-river.

By Robert Seatter

If you enjoyed this poem, take a look at the other Thames Path 30th Anniversary poems.

COOKHAM

Countless artists have been inspired by the Thames, none more so than Stanley Spencer at Cookham, who transformed an ordinary riverside village into a place of religious revelation.

The Royal Manor of Cookham was held by the Crown until 1818 and today is now one of the most popular Thameside resorts with its many superb restaurants and inns, including Bel and the Dragon dating from 1417 and reputedly one of the oldest licensed houses in England! The church of the Holy Trinity, although considerably restored, still exhibits parts of its Norman origins

Sir Stanley Spencer, one of the greatest British painters of the 20th century lived in the village until his death in 1959 and who used its scenery as the background to many of his paintings. Another famous former resident was Kenneth Grahame, author of 'The Wind in the Willows'. He lived with his grandmother at ‘The Mount’ in Cookham Dean. 

Cookham Lock is half a mile downstream.