Get Your Premium Membership

View From the Bridge

VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE

From the bridge, track the ghosts of line, goods yard, Old Town Station 
Where we lingered and noted the numbers of each passing train
Web of steel and of steam entwined village and town across nation
'Til Arcadian rural slow lines suffered untimely wane

Gone: the Market where cows sheep and pigs brought in telling perceptions
The images, noises and smells of the farms to the town
The tweeded farmers with leathery limbs and faces
And gaiters of deepest sheen in a rich chestnut brown

Flaxen ropes, billhooks, pitchforks enough for a peasants' uprising
Spread along the High street and over the Corn Exchange square
While Newport Street furnished inns for all thirsts' reviving
And above all, the clock tower made skyline iconic and fair

Then was school run not cosseted chauffeured, in family car
But raced, skipped or dawdled through field, street, market and station
Our little world teamed with action, unscreened, with no bar
Of health and safety; adventure without filtration

In that world we seemed in different incarnation
So are we the same people, and do we now view the same place?
Can we yet discern immortality's intimation?
The adventure goes on though perhaps at a difference pace.

Copyright © | Year Posted 2018




Post Comments

Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.

Please Login to post a comment

Date: 1/13/2018 6:34:00 AM
Great poem about the loss that is the flipside of "progress". (BTW: Do you mean "wane" instead of "wain"?)
Login to Reply
Brewer Avatar
Geoffrey Brewer
Date: 1/13/2018 7:41:00 AM
Thanks John and well spotted. Yes I did mean wane. I will amend it.
Date: 1/12/2018 11:37:00 AM
What a journey you have taken me on, Geoffrey. Thank you for sharing and many congrats on your win. Elaine
Login to Reply
Brewer Avatar
Geoffrey Brewer
Date: 1/12/2018 1:28:00 PM
Thank you for your feedback, and kind words Elaine.
Date: 1/10/2018 1:19:00 PM
Congrats on your winning poem, Geoffrey.
Login to Reply
Brewer Avatar
Geoffrey Brewer
Date: 1/10/2018 1:29:00 PM
Many thanks, Line.
Date: 1/10/2018 5:41:00 AM
These are things I think on all the time, Geoffrey, and I so relate ... wonderfully penned, my friend - congrats on your win! :-)
Login to Reply
Brewer Avatar
Geoffrey Brewer
Date: 1/10/2018 1:40:00 PM
Glad to receive a response from one who shares the nostalgia for places and experiences that we may never see again. Thanks for your kind words, Gregory.

Book: Reflection on the Important Things