MILL COTTAGE, MOUSEHOLE: A NEW POEM...

Mill Cottage, Mousehole, December 2018

Grey to off-white rain clouds

Barely reflect in slate grey roof tiles,

Wet from an earlier deluge,

Its guttering likely stuffed with mud, guano

And insistent spouting grass and careless wild weed,

Rendering the impression of being once proud,

A thriving cottage, more a home, a refuge,

Well tended by folks of a different breed…

Dulled to off-white, the building

Scarcely enhances the dwelling’s style,

Grim exterior, a neglected frontage,

Its windows splattered by sea-birds’ guano

And persistent rotting sills and careless putty daunting, 

Rendering an impression of shameful, not proud,

A holiday cottage, more decrepit than vintage,

A project, untended, shabby and haunting…    

And the grille, the rail,

Stood flimsy and frail;

And steps dropped down through filth and litter 

To a below street level portal, derelict and bitter;

And dull moss, dirt, clinging weed and spindly grass

Vied with the discarded rubbish of the mindless, their ignorance crass… 

Pete Ray

January 2019

I like this building so much but it has seemingly been allowed to decay, certainly on the outside.

Would love to see the inside, beyond the rust, the paintwork, the weeds and the neglect…