So much changed this year –

My horizons were rearranged

When the fancy new build

Drew curtains across my field of vision

And the old lifeboat station was taken away

Bit by bit,

Day by day,

I can still just about see the ocean,

Pretentiously adorned with several boats on

Like costume jewellery

To gild the lily quite unduly.

The benches punctuate the sea wall

To commemorate Sids and Normans and Arthurs,

People’s brothers and best friends and fathers.

The old lobster pots on the corner mark a chapter break,

But there’s a notice to say somebody will soon take

Those away too

Unless someone raises an objection

With a valid interception.

The pages stacked against the sea soon

Will be all blank

With nothing left to tell a story

Or to really interest me

To be frank,

And that eight mile stretch

To somewhere different

Has me instantly a kvetch –

Oh to be o isolated is such a wretch,

Whatever was I thinking?

It’s enough to set anyone off drinking

Until, inevitably, I am lured back

By another claret sunset

Most magnificent .

 

Then I’m once again madly intoxicated

By this little scene, which only three hours ago, I hated.