The last West Pier II

Part of the ‘Past to Present’ series from Jemverse

I found it on the high tide line
after a night of fire
the Grand Old Lady of the sea
destroyed by spite and ire
Yet carried on an ebbing tide
along the coast to me
a memory of those boards I trod
now rescued from the sea
So though her grandeur is no more
complete her fall from grace
Brighton's West Pier always will
in history have her place

The Gut

Part of the ‘Past to Present’ series from Jemverse

The beach Ted Bunker launched his
boat from sadly is no more
once called 'The Gut' its gutted now
no more a shingle shore
Filled in to make a car park
the beach where once we played
is another loss to history
and to the fishing trade

Bungalow Town

Part of the ‘Past to Present’ series from Jemverse

Just east of the church on the foreshore
bungalows once on the beach
presented a vista of Shoreham
history has put out of reach
Popularised by early movies
actors built many homes there
salvaging old railway carriages
the carriage works then had to spare
Mary Loftus, a music hall favourite
Florrie Ford, Ernie Mayne, Marie Lloyd
all of the lovelies who flocked to the beach
making it hard to avoid

Malduppinne

Part of the ‘Past to Present’ series from Jemverse

'Malduppinne' as it was first called
in thirteen forty-seven
by grant from John le Pottere
to his wife in his succession
Its purpose now long lost to time
a museum now it hosts
in the oldest secular building that
the town of Shoreham boasts
From 'Malduppinne' to 'Marlipins'
this build of Caen stone
with flint-knapped chequered walls remains
the oldest one still known

The Lanes

Part of the ‘Past to Present’ series from Jemverse

Up at the top of Buckingham Road
the elms, mature, still stand
a reminder of the distant past
when the manor house stood grand
part of a bygone Shoreham
a remnant of 'The Lanes'
with triangle of trees and shrubs
is all that now remains

Two bridges

When in flight over Shoreham
a hundred years ago
two bridges you would see
'cross the river down below
The Norfolk and the railway
but no footbridge crossing yet
for the town and all its people
had that pleasure still to get

Tarmount Shepherds

Now where people park their cars
on tarmac for some shopping
once stood an open field where
you'd oft see sheep a-hopping
A shepherd's hut stood to the south
close to its southern border
fenced in with wooden latticework
to keep the sheep in order
On Tarmount Lane in Shoreham town
the shepherd's field you'd see
for many years with grazing
for the sheep that wandered free

The silence of ancient walls

Beside old Railway Gardens the old flint wall has stood
built two hundred years ago but still it's looking good
And if its stones could talk and tell the history of the years
of Shoreham since the railway came of all those toils and tears
What a merry tale that would be for us who live
in this town beside the sea and what we wouldn't give
For history books are great to have but the interesting essence
can only come from something that has stood from past to present
So sadly we will never know for these old walls are still
and silent from the years they've seen as they forever will

Days Gone

In Regency Square
where once stood the Pier
Victorian splendour
still evident here
but time has moved on
and the 360 high
is now the feature
high up in the sky

Yet standing here now
the future I hold
is recalling the heyday
('cos yes, I'm that old)
when the West Pier still stood
as a visual feast
besting the new one
a mile to the east

Jack and Jill

On the South Downs
high, top the hill
we walked around
the Jack and Jill
two windmills there
and standing still
though long time now
since flour to mill

The view gave all 
the eyes to fill
where we took stock
of our free will
November yet
not really chill
we wandered freely
with no ill

Buckingham House

As a boy I used to play here
inside the burnt out walls
playing hide n seek and other games
within its hallowed halls

Once we ventured to the basement
down dark and dusty stair
oblivious to danger
with innocence to dare

But now all these years later
it is a block of flats
although the outside walls remain
preserved and still intact

The last West Pier

You'd never think from how it looks
that many years ago
the boards of this forgotten pier
I walked down oft and slow
Derelict for forty years
and then destroyed by fire
the skeletal remains now stand
as its last funeral pyre
Brighton's West Pier still it's called
but you'll need imagination
to picture once how grand it was
from this last iteration

Barnacles

blue boats, barnacles brown
bumpy beetles, boolean blots
baked bold, blended bravery
boats brown, barnacles blue

Old and new (haiku)

Through the grandiose
a glimpse of today’s Brighton
History merges

Stopham Bridge III

In Sussex there’s a bridge
Built in fourteen twenty-two
now closing on six hundred years
since its fine stones were new
It spans the river Arun
near Stopham Village where
it’s provided here a crossing
for local folk to share

HUMAN NATURE

By Charles Robert Lindholm

Forgiveness
Second Chances
Grace
Do Overs

We Don’t Like
To Think Of Ourselves
As Cold
Unforgiving
Prejudicial
Or Judgmental

The Square Tower

Where once King Henry the Eighth resided
overlooking the Solent right there
In Portsmouth old city on the sea wall
still stands the Tower of Square

Shoreham Airport again

5 of 7 in the Jemverse series ‘Shoreham again’

Shoreham Airport’s terminal building
The oldest in the land
Is getting a new makeover
To make it fresh and grand

It’s 1930’s facade fell into
a terrible state
With peeling paint and cracks in walls
But soon it will look great

Bignor

Two Roman villas
Two Mondays past
we’ve visited and found several ways
to lose ourselves here
with plenty of cheer
a cure for any malaise

Bignor this time
Mosaics again
under thatch to par excellence
Discovered when farming
at the time quite alarming
in the nineteenth century perchance

Fishbourne

And so it was with Romans
Fishbourne finally today
saw Sal and I this morning
venture out and come this way
England’s mosaic glory
tessellated on the ground
tells a tale of history
when in the sixties found
And now this treasure prospers
revealed for all to see
Especially today for
my soulmate Sal and me

HUMAN NATURE

By Charles Robert Lindholm

Forgiveness
Second Chances
Grace
Do Overs

We Don’t Like
To Think Of Ourselves
As Cold
Unforgiving
Prejudicial
Or Judgmental

Gone

When I was last in Cardiff
the old hotel was there
Boarded up and derelict
yet still with life to share

But now it’s been demolished
leaving just an empty space
Its bygone age has left us
with a sadness in its place

The Wellington

Moored now at the Temple Stairs
where she’s been since forty-eight
The Wellington lies white and proud
A museum ship of late

A split down the middle

14 of 16 in the Jemverse ‘Venetian Vistas’ series

Split was a tale of two cities
spread across differing times
Roman columns interspersed
reused with modern lines
Ingenuity prevailed as
walls within walls lay
Preserving parts of history
to see another day

Farm

My rolling road smooths over the hills
reveals a distant farm house
hazy gray, huddled in trees

Zadar

8 of 16 in the Jemverse ‘Venetian Vistas’ series

The Roman forum’s vista
looks to ‘Jadransko More’
Its marbled stone-clad ruins
On the Dalmatian shore
Where Zadar’s Saint Donatus
with Byzantine aplomb
borrowed Roman architecture
to build its walls upon

Korcula

5 of 16 in the Jemverse ‘Venetian Vistas’ series

To Korcula by tender
Inside the city wall
I climbed the tower of St Marks
some thirty metres tall

Oasis

Sat in St Nicholas’ churchyard
high up on the hill
overlooking Brighton
with all around me still

Sipped a bold, strong coffee
the sunshine breaking through
with history around me
which from my past I knew