Blank verse for the Staiths Cafe

Image: © Oliver Dixon Taken: 1 Jun 2023

On the wall at the foot of the steps leading up to the Staiths Cafe, this poem by Christine Frazer: One quick glance at the river outside Clamouring to get inside. The white gulls bob on cream-topped waves On tip-toe through mud beneath The Staiths. While grandparents gossip and cake is shared Sleepless couples gulp espresso, Weary work with care. The carriage won't rattle. The trimmers long gone... Plastic boards to remind, and art and song. The days when the river once teamed with black coal, All done and forgotten replaced with the dole. But quietly now the new meets the past, The noise of the energy quiet at last. As the cafe bustles, the gulls soar and dive, The song of the river still very much alive.

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