1207

Return to Westcliff

So here I am again.

I thought last January,

In the wet,

Was the last time I'd sit

In this bar

Looking at the mud across the estuary,

The lights on the southern shore.

In these eight months

Little has changed.

It could be yesterday.

The Danish girl on reception

Knew me without asking

And joked I could have phoned

To get a cheaper rate.

The lounge is empty

And I'm sitting by the unlit fire

A pint of cider

The notes for a service

In two weeks' time;

Relaxed in the comfort

Of the known.

Brian Hick September 2012

©copyright Sally Hick 6.8.24

As an education consultant, Brian often worked away from home. even after 'retirement'.

 1050

          Westcliff - November

I stood and looked above at the night sky

          Hoping I'd see heaven's door

          Radiant as we did before

In Fenwick, when we marvelled, you and I

That there could be so many stars up there

          Jostling to be observed,

          Where constellations were absorbed

Within one great multitude of rare

Perfections; where each tiny point of light

          Masks a galaxy of power

          Pulsating in its autumnal bower

Across the milky way into the night.

But here, the lights along the river shroud

          All but the brightest few

          And the old moon's waning hue

Is hardly noticed lurking in the cloud.

Brian Hick November 2011

©copyright Sally Hick 1.12.23

 974

27 June 11 - Westcliff

The tide is out as far as it can be.

The mud flats and the banks that cut across

The estuary emerge to carve the void

Between Westcliff and the terminals

On the southern side.  Water skiers

Skim between the warming greys to churn

The edges into sudden banks of light

Quickly sensed and just as quickly gone.

After a day of unexpected heat

The clouds are moving in, and temperatures

Fall back, comfortable, rather than

The endless running sweat of afternoon.

A tanker slides down channel, and the glow

Of evening sunlight calms the after tow.

Dr Brian Hick 27.6.22

©copyright Sally Hick 16.8.23