Dark Harbour Poem by jim hogg

Dark Harbour

Rating: 5.0


The lights are shining down upon broken stones and fishing boats
In the amber haze reflections reach for the night that’s crowding close
And on the hill the old hotel is watching over all
And I think I hear a voice I know
From somewhere down among the waves that kiss the harbour wall

The revellers all come and go at the Crown and Harbour House
There’s a solitary violin in the distance drifting down
And from the south a quarter moon is watching over all
And I think I see a face I know
Beneath me in the rippling images that rise and fall

And I’m thinking of so many things
of all the roads that led me on
and all the words I’ve wasted on
dreams that take us nowhere
when all that ever mattered
was waiting for me here

The outside world in silence waits beyond the edge of night
for the pilgrims on the glory road that the most of us walk blind
And in the air the promises that kept us driving on
And I think I hear a song I know
In the old dance hall I held you close; by morning I was gone

Now it’s Hogmanay and bitter cold, but nobody seems to care
In the amber night below the lights there is music everywhere
And from the harbour deep and dark it’s time to turn for home
And I think I hear the bells ring out
From somewhere o’er the Auld Lang Synes that echo round the shore

I’ve been thinking of so many things
of all the roads that led me on
and all the words I’ve wasted on
dreams that take us nowhere
when all that ever mattered
was waiting for me here


31 10 11

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Just Lines 26 January 2017

5 years after my first and subsequent readings of this poem I am once again left standing in that same amber haze...reluctant to leave the page...keeping this one...

1 0 Reply
William F Dougherty 24 October 2012

Herewith: a voice to hear and a voice to emulate.

1 0 Reply
Iris Blue 01 October 2012

Revisiting this one and once again I find myself reluctant to leave the page; visually arresting and audibly haunting, the sense of regret is almost tangible....

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Iris Blue 04 February 2012

A poem that harbours the darkness of regret...there is something very special about the composition of this poem - the words seem to fall across the page like the notes on a stave giving it a rich musicality that intensifies the mood, tone and sentiment - it's as if the poetic devices employed have been transposed into musical notation to create a hauntingly beautiful melody that in turn paints a vivid picture - a picture that draws the reader in and leaves them standing in the amber haze...

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