Paradise is a salvage operation,
A reckoning of what we desire stretched,
Unbroken, from here to infinity,
like syrup twisted onto a spoon, lifted up high,
tipped to a skeining – a long stitch of sweetness
mending the ordinary.

Liz Lefroy – The Square Root of Paradise

Slowly, moving her stiff limbs in crab-like fashion, she edged away from the middle channel of the river and pulled herself to the safer, shallower waters near the Dee’s eastern bank.  Gradually her breathing steadied and the racing of her heart ceased.  She allowed herself to drift along for a short while and then allowed herself to drift along for a short while and then swam on.

Picture of River Alun near Loggerheads, Denbighshire ©Bobby Seal