The Two-Faced Boscastle Gargoyle…
After walking along the upper stone wall
Of Boscastle’s curling inner harbour, I began
To climb, uncomfortably, across flat rock
To a vantage point atop a cliff, where the sea
Was visible, with its sinewy approach to meet
The River Valency at the end of its fall
From the surrounding hills in a shallow squall.
Looking at the headland across to my right
I spotted a gargoyle, the head of a woman
Presiding over the inlet, weathered from ancient rock.
It was Queen Victoria in profile, ruling the sea,
Her iconic cherubic cheeks hardly discreet,
Though her expression seemed rather contrite
And her jagged, stony face encapsulated might…
Whilst negotiating a path along the gargoyle’s headland,
The profile had altered into that of a man,
Open mouthed, sculpted as shocked from the rock.
What threat had he spied, approaching from the sea?
A storm, a pestilence, an enemy fleet?
Or was it a flood running down from the land?
Or the illegal smuggling of contraband?
Pete Ray
13th November 2022
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