ALL QUIET ON THE SEAFRONT: A NEW POEM TO ACCOMPANY KIRSTY ELSON'S ARTWORK...

 All Quiet On The Seafront:

(inspired by the October image from Kirsty Elson’s 2020 calendar)

Early morning.

All quiet on the seafront.

Skiffs drawn up the slipway

In a state of redundancy.

Lighthouse warns of the sea’s brunt

And cottages squat forlorn on a dawning day

In a row of dependency…

Trench warfare. It’s a long way from here.

The silence, the peace, the solitude held dear;

He would step towards the rotund tower

And heartily greet his parents within the hour,

Then stifle his shell-shock, the fear, the fright

And hide the horrors dreamed during the night…

Early morning.

All quiet on the seafront.

Boats lie upon the slipway

With their promise of sanctity.

Lighthouse warms from cruel war’s brunt,

And cottages huddle forlorn on that emerging day

In a row of anonymity… 

Pete Ray

September 2020

The image suggested to me that an infantryman was nearly home on leave during the First World War and he found the peace there rather disconcerting…