silent witnesses

[Benjamin]

here comes

the peaceful early sun

a-glitter on the morning tide

which flowing fast as man can run

by-passes locks at riverside

and docks once thriving hubs of trade

are empty open waterways

where memories and faces fade to ghosts

of vibrant yesterdays

 

there stand

the once proud eerie hoists

sad phantoms of a golden past with no one

left to heed their voice

for teeming coal is spent at last

and craggy silent birds of cranes are stooping

bending overhung

as though still winding from their frames

large steely worms for long fled young

 

so many ships

from past decades

their cargoes left behind

proceed in colourful parades

a once-lived boy to find

and skyward over blackening spire

the ageless seagulls climb on buoyant wings

which never tire

where bells have ceased to chime

[moonqueen]

G, this is quite well written, I love the rhythm. It leaves me feeling a bit melancholy, however. I lived the first ten years of my life right on the mississippi river and remember all of that boat traffic and the sounds that accompany the water and its business. Have not been back since I was twenty and afraid nostalgia might begin a battle with me, so will stay here, snuggled up to our mountains.

[Benjamin]

It came from a nostalgic visit some years ago to the once bustling town of my birth which suffered greatly with the decline of coal, textile and other great industries in Northern England.