Piers Plowright with his daughters. Photo: Alan Hall

• A FEW poetic words and thoughts on the late Piers Plowright. He long swam the Highgate Pond from which he will undoubtedly be missed.

The Artist and Swimmer
Piers, you were ever fond of a poem and a swim in Hampstead’s Highgate Pond;
Not far from the spot where Coleridge and Shelley met Keats.
Your name, like his and ours is writ in water.
Whilst fishes come and go and swans are gliding past
And memories remain alive,
You shall continue to be remembered with a rare and fond, affection;
your, civilising, decent, kindest heart,
– until the final memories of them, too depart!

ROBERT SUTHERLAND SMITH
Widecombe Way, N2