Bard of the North Copyright © Jen Overett

Black skyline, castle keeps, and brooding towers,
Marked well by the dog-leap or two
Between familiar corners of city bars.
The glittering night lies in the bottom of your glass
And in the next perhaps, the muse,
Who knows how deep you have to leave a place to find it,

That bitter, secret pearl.
For then your kittiwakes will truly fly,
Wings tipped with Geordie beauty,
And all the thirsty tarts, and men in pinstripe suits,
The laughing boys in that echoing playground,
All of us, shall know it.

Eight or ten pints down,
You're spitting out poetry so hard
You're nearly on your knees.
No more leaping for tonight,
Just a wistful wander home,
Rich sonnets singing in your mutterings.

On this wild and lonely path,
May your heartbeat match the Tyne's wise pace,
Its gentle, winding ways your home;
Your cold bed bring warm welcome,
Like this dark city that holds you in its palm
As you, in turn, have held it in your own.

- 'Dog-leap' is a reference to Dog Leap Stairs; a steep flight of steps rising up from the Tyne Quayside in Newcastle to the Old Castle Keep, regularly used on pub crawls.

- Kittiwake: a small breed of seagull which nests by the Tyne Bridge.