Sea And Shore Poem by David Lewis Paget

‘Why do you tear at
My towers and my turrets,
My walls and my pillars
My barrs and my beach;
And mutter like musings
Of untoward poets,
And scatter your silences
Out of my reach? ’

‘Why do you surge and
Assault in your anger
The fortress I built for
My lady asleep,
And slowly dismiss each
Dispute you remember
By wearing each stone
From the base of the Keep? ’

‘What is the torment that
Claws at the crofters,
The meadows, the rookeries
Close to your door,
And where is the mistress
As sweet and as soft as
The ripples you listlessly
Waste by the shore? ’

II

‘I’ll balk and I’ll beat
At your very foundations,
I'll tear down your turrets
And pillars of stone,
The lady that sleeps at
The edge of my oceans
Was mine when your acres
Were torn from my throne.’

‘But time has not told
All the tales of my fathoms
And constant I am
To the love that I keep,
Each year I assault and
Encroach your dominions,
Your towers and your turrets,
Your castle and keep.’

III

‘Long may you surge and
Assault my defences,
Beat in your anger
At granite and slate,
The lady that sleeps has
No further pretences,
Your labour of love
A millennium late.’

IV

‘Now shall I fume at
My lady’s defection and
All her deceptions
From headland and Tor,
Love is as false as
Your petty foundations
When love may be left
Beating up on the shore.’

28 June 1979