Missing you

MISSING YOU

Pebbles crunching under foot.
Sullen grey and still the sea
Lapping in unusual February calm.
Muffle-wrapped against the cold
I walk alone, as laughing couples gaze
Into each other’s eyes and toss
Their bags of soggy Brighton chips aside.

The Palace Pier is open as it was
When all those fifty years ago and
More (or less) I ran and played or fished
In innocent abandon. Now in measured step
I pass across its ageing planks and listen to
Its one-armed bandits softly peddling
Lies of dreams to be fulfilled.

I reach the pier’s end and pause a while
In conversation with a noble gull
Who gives me just a moment of her time,
Then falls away, and glides across the
Waves in search of food: and I in search
Of you, am captivated by a pool of distant
Sunlight on this laden sea, and feel your warmth.


After Brighton beach
Valentine’s Eve, 2010