Shaped though many hours
by the touch of sea and sand
this wonderful breakwater
now moulded by their hand
encapsulates the aura
that this seascape holds for me
from a life spent here in Sussex
on the beach and near the sea
This sculpted inspiration
with a charm there of its own
has long held fascination
from the years here I have known
and though these precious heirlooms
are now fading over time
I will capture them for memory
where they stay uniquely mine
Progress and safety and
longshore drift
have taken their toll
with budget and thrift
So, rare the breakwater
today you will find
Most hidden away
to low water confined
But their beauty remains
and, for me, fascination
and not, as the planners
will say, aberration.
Attesting, this broken
breakwater today
reveals a rare beauty
I’d venture to say
The lapping sea
The water cold
The breakwater
The very old
The ocean song
The greying sky
The water sound
The seagull cry
The sand beneath
The seaweed there
The coming tide
The pensive stare
The beach which is
The everything
The Waters edge
The eyes that sing
Cast in yellow pools of light
night shadows on the beach
Wooden breakwaters stand tall
robust against the Reach
Mysterious, the water calls
quietly from the shore
as lapping waves just out of sight
return again once more
The sweeping bay, the shingle slopes
the lights along the coast
This peacefulness, this solitude
as the ocean plays the host
Tidal waters splashing
at the waters’ edge
on the old breakwater
such a privilege
Buried deep in shingle
but still within my reach
as the tide turns one more time
down here at the beach
Sat in the sun and looked at the sea
with the waves rolling in on the shore
Counted to seven and watched as it broke
before receding out there for some more
Watched the surf on the shingle, the spray on the wind
carried with salt in the air
Heard the cry of the gulls on the wing up above
the familiar sound of them there
Spent a few moments in my favourite place
on the beach with my good friend, the sea
Breathed deep of its fragrance, felt refreshed once again
in the place I can truly be me
By listening very carefully
I could hear it on the air
My call across the many years
to me still walking there
The beach where many summer spent
as a boy with dirty knees
To which half a century later
I returned on Autumn breeze
So very little here has changed
So, with echoes of the past
I stood there a while just gazing
out at the ocean, vast
And as I stood there watching
the past and present met
With man and boy upon the beach
a rare reunion crept
On the beach near the water
Breakwater’s lee
Watching the waves
of a soft lapping sea
The sun’s playing hide n seek
behind the grey
But it’s muggy and warm
so I’m happy to play
Skimmed a few stones
on the fast rising tide
Encouraged the sunshine
that still wanted to hide
Then back across shingle
with sand in my shoe
To return on the morrow
when the sky’s again blue
...all about me and my life in words. I write most days, carrying an ideas book around in which I capture a word snapshot of life around me. So there's a lot here about Sussex and the sea and anything else I see that inspires.
The pictures are mine too. Some taken to match a poem; some poems written to match a pic; others chosen because they work well with words written.
Jemverse is life in words. Hope you enjoy the reading as much as I enjoy the writing...