Eye witness

After the storm (26 October 1995)

It got itself up in a hurry, the storm.
We could hear it tearing its heart out in the night and hid
Our heads under the pillow to postpone the worry
In the morning the sea lay sallow and turgid
Sand-sucking, ominous waves carried their cargo of wrecked wrack stems
Oars and petrol, dead bodies.
The human spirit is cowed by the sudden fury,
Dreams lie buried deep within pending insurance claims;
The Buddha counsels non-attachment.
The long steep climb back to normality
Is fraught with memories of these and other disasters
But from what was left us we salvaged hope
And where there's hope there's life:
It was courtesy of the living
That the storm had anything vivid to destroy

                                                                                                              Tommy Beavitt

Love hopes

Love hopes to attain
What cannot be attained
Love gropes in the darkness
For someone to be blamed
Yet no one is to blame,
Only love
It's like a sailor on the sea,
That sailor could be me
Where the waters are uncharted
And the wrecks are broken-hearted
I'm still learning the ropes.
Love Hopes

Love yearns for the lover,
For the comfort of the Other
Love burns as it turns
From one way to another.
But there is no way to turn
In love
Like a mountain in the north
Where Foolhardy ventured forth
Wrote a letter to his wife
'It isn't me who loses life
On these slopes'.
Love Hopes

Love takes us to the region
Of the mournful Roman legion
Who set off in the mist
When the girls had all been kissed
In love.
But the soldiers marched away
In a land of cold and grey
And as the oxen creaked the carts
A hush fell on their hearts
The maiden mopes
But love hopes

Love guides us on the way
Love teaches us to pray
Both caused and eases pain
Both soothed and drives insane;
Crazy love
Yet through darkness there's a light
Through despair, a will to fight
The imperative of known
Caused a lovelorn fool to moan
Somehow he copes
Love hopes

                                                                                            Tommy Beavitt