DOOM OVER DALEHOUSE...

 Doom Over Dalehouse…

The Ridge Lane silence was beguiling,

Its narrow width snaking between two steep

Declines into wooded vales, breathtaking

In their depths. The only sounds

Were evening birds chorusing and the distant

Barking of farmyard dogs, discordant,

Yet from my viewpoint, somehow out of bounds,

For I was alone, disconcerted and my joints were aching.

Soon, an ashen bank of clouds began to creep

Across the remnants of an amber sunset, startling…

The Ridge Lane silence became eerily strained,

As the demoralising blanket of grey proceeded to haul

Itself across the promise of early summer’s balm

And my hands turned so cold, quite suddenly.

Blackbirds, serins and a single robin sang out still

But dusk had been summoned by April’s grim chill

Of dark, threatening cloud, which surged blindly

Above the smoking stack of Boulby Mine’s calm.

And a malevolent veil over Staithes served to appal,

Where no trace of the amber sunset remained…

Pete Ray

19th April 2023   

The approaching clouds changed a pleasant evening’s walk along Ridge Lane in Staithes into a disturbing and very cold hurry, as the area around Dalehouse changed within moments…

THE CLOUD BANK LOOMS OVER THE SEA EARLIER IN THE DAY...