A shadow looks over the mud
unseen is the never dredged past
trapping the empty vessels stranded
captive to the low ebb of the present
on the edge of the town that dreamed
a future of floating on high seas
no operatic tragedies or symphonic
triumphs just the humdrum rise and fall
of the tide and life that befalls the ordinary
trapped between breakwater and dock
while the flow of the river of progress
washes away youth and possibilities
to the open seas never to return
and the still water awaits in reflection
pools beneath the silhouettes of holy spires
a place of memories of pride and roots
awaiting fair winds and a tide to rebirth.
Ciaran Burke
