Andrew Shiston

Come with me to this Island in the sea
Tears of stone shed by ancient mountains bones
The curving shore for all good men to see
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This Island, this out-thrust spit of land
At the end of miles of stone
Where on the farthest cliff-top
A lighthouse stands alone
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The fog is lifting and the foghorn silent
On the point of Portland Bill
The lighthouse light extinguished
Only seagulls now are shrill
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Seagulls soaring over white water
Wings stiff in the black sky
Storm clouds race the raging wind
As breaking seas crash by
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The sky grows dark, seagulls scream
The wind begins to howl
The storm is close, we cringe with fear
The sea grows larger still
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Forlorn and standing tall
In an empty dockyard basin
Bent and rusted rails
By broken fallen walls
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Sea lies in the harbour
Stone piers straddle the ebbing tide
Ferryboats still bob and turn
Bows on, moorings still tied
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Through the Suez Canal, on to the Red Sea
And towards the east
Where lives the nomad tribes
Across the dry and arid deserts
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From many fathoms deep
In the dark and dismal depths
Where day and sunlight disappear
Lays a rusting rotten wreck
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As the mist swirls in the valleys
And drifts across the fields
The ghostly shadows harden
And the ancient trees appear
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Away out on the starboard beam
Betwixt the stars and earth
Beneath the laden storm clouds
The distant shore lights gleam
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Dark majestic, rising high in the heavens
Black clouds of bulging rain
Photo flash, a backdrop
Lightning, lighting a golde halo
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You cannot spin the suns rays
For they are golden light
Clothing earth with warmth
Encompassing, coloured green
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I will never visit, nor ever call
You are lifeless, dead, without love for me
I shall go away and will never fall
In love again, you have set my heart free
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Where astern our screws thrust deep
And streamed our spliced log line
The bows break the forceful seas
As we sail through the salty brine
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Rushing water, teeth eroding stone
Spray suspended over a brightly coloured rainbow
Descending a catalytic cliff
Disappearing into a catacomb of caves
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Rocks open mouths with teeth
Creamed waves curling high
Over the demon faces of the cliffs
Outcrops of grasping fingers
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Thrusting from the dark green depths
A mountain peak of monstrance stone
Venereated by stinking guano
Screaming gulls and dead birds bones
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Three maroons on this stormy night
Clinkered stalwart lifeboat
On the oily slip, oars in rowlocks
Held by splice and knotted rope
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In the darkness of the night
Lit by a three quarter moon
The swirling mist hovers
Over rough and ready cobbles
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