Alan Frederick SmithVERY shortly after Alan Frederick Smith died at 85, his daughter Bella found a half-finished letter on a table at his Hampstead home. And his daughter wondered whether I would mention her father’s life in this little column – and I feel honoured to do so. How could I fail to honour such a gifted man and not trace his long journey from a working-class home in Lytham in Lancashire to Cambridge University, various teaching posts across north Africa, the Middle East as well at British colleges. And no wonder, because like all good poets he saw in life and people around us what many miss. Here kites angle the Sunday sky,Anchored by ponds where radio jet-boatsSkim narcissistically on mirrors of waterTo the touch of middle-aged adolescence.

Source: The North Africa Journal July 09, 2020 17:48 UTC