Suffolk Dawn Poem by William Messent

Desolate sea
between steel sky and dusky shore.
A sinister mist creeps in,
adds to the grey gloom.
Flat calm.
Stillness.
Complete silence.

A seabird cries.
Shingle-rippling wavelets, bubble and make reply.
The gull continues his mournful song
evoking sea-lost souls.
Waves,
now churning time-worn pebbles,
advance,
inexorably -
a soulful seascape in shades of grey.

Others take up the seabird's reveille.
Ghostly forms
float intangibly
on the morning mist.

Golden light, gathers on the horizon -
slow, diffuse at first, later, laser-like,
bright rays burn off the vapours.
Then,
suddenly,
in splendour,
the Sun appears.