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

Moments in Bristol

We had a brilliant time down in Bristol
reliving the days from my youth
Great to see the familiar sights
with some ‘moments’ to tell you the truth

Viaduct

The viaduct on London Raod
Brighton, late at night
lit up blue with vibrancy
is a lovely sight

High above the city streets
with Victorian pride
to carry trains up there on which
so many people ride

St Mary of the Harbour

So, there’s already some words written
about me as I am today
But there’s more to make the story
complete in every way
For once I was much bigger
cruciform in shape
Part of Shoreham’s presence
on the Sussex south landscape

Church

5 of 6 in the Jemverse ‘Shoreham’ series

Nine hundred years I’ve been here
in Shoreham’s ancient port
A Catholic church turned Anglican
the parish to support
My cruciform original has
crumbled over time
But what is left still standing
is still within its prime

James Brindley

James Brindley was an engineer
born seventeen seventy-two
Who later, when he’d qualified
canals and water knew
He designed many aqueducts
and tunnels through the rocks
along with single traffic gates
in narrow water locks

Brighton Greenway

High above the Brighton streets
on the old railway bed
Through the locomotive works
the Brighton Greenway led

The engines left here long ago
but their memory remains
Homage paid by sculptor’s hand
to Brighton’s long lost trains

Iron Lighthouse

On the north sea coast at Harwich
Iron lighthouse in the sea
Built to replace the old one
back in eighteen sixty-three

Statues

It is hard to grapple
with a statue. In fact
it was quite humorous to watch
an angry mob try
to destroy
Robert E. Lee
in Charlottesville.

The Corinth Canal

Part 15 of 20 in ‘The Aegean Shores’ series

The boat was somewhat smaller
but the view was just as fine
Confirming that our choice today
was a wise one made this time

The Canalhouse

It’s quite a surprise
when popping in for a beer
to find that the pub
has its own canal here!

HAIKU: MY HEART IS A TREE

By Charles Robert Lindholm

 

My heart is a tree

A test of time

Against the blue the old Town Hall
with yellow ochre walls
Declares aloud his history
from ageing hallowed halls
In Brighton now amidst the new
it stands aloof to change
Whilst all around the architects
make plans to rearrange

PAST

Past
Haunts me more
Than it ever did before
For it has a longer history to pour

Haunted
I stick to myself
Holding tight I wonder
More about the consequences
That could have been well mended