What the storms leave behind

They’re still fixing the road the storms tore up.

Twice.

You were dying to come down and see ‘the carnage’.

You always loved a bit of destruction,

a bit of hell and damnation

– preferably through the lens.

Osborne’s is closed for the season.

No ice-cream today.

And at the old pub – The New Inn – no more fires.

It’s in-between times.

On the beach we try to walk east

so on our way home we’ll face the sun, as it sets.

But the storms have changed the geography of the beach

and despite our best efforts and boots we can’t cross.

On the pebble bank we think we found dry ground

until looking down we see

in the gaps

dark water quickly glistening.

“It’s totally changed!”

“Yeah!”

“You know Pobbles got covered in rocks?

I thought the storms brought them there

but someone told me – it’s only now

the sand has gone we can see

what was there all along.”