Bringing Smiles

[#16 in the ‘Past to Present’ series from Jemverse]

One hundred sixteen years ago
'Old B' he wrote some lines
and sent them to Molteno
in those now long distant times
I can't quite read his writing
but I know so well the scene
on the postcard that he used
as it is a place I've been

My hometown, Shoreham, Sussex coast
though things have changed a tad
my home since the mid sixties
when I was just a lad
And this little piece of cardboard
though it's travelled many miles
still serves the purpose given
as it still keeps bringing smiles

©Jemverse

[Photo - of a postcard in the author's collection].

William Henry Borrow (the artist) was 19th century English watercolorist who worked largely in Sussex between 1863 and 1893. This postcard, postmarked Bexhill-on-Sea (Sussex) on May 10 1906 and Molteno (South Africa) on 31 May 1906, is notable as it has travelled from Shoreham to South Africa and back to Shoreham again, 116 years after it was first purchased, written and sent.

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