The year was eighty-seven,
The year we had the storm.
The wind howled through the night,
Tiles clattered,
Trees toppled,
Rooves moved,
And fell.
The countryside changed,
Yet only eighteen died.
As I drove to work
The landscape was different.
The trees that had blocked my view were down,
Tiles were everywhere.
I got into work, Building Maintenance at the time,
The ‘phones never stopped.
I sent men out to view the hell
That the wind had produced.
Yet only eighteen died.
They tales they told were both horrific,
And funny.
They told of the rooves
They found on the ground,
Lifted from blocks of flats,
And laid to one side.
Of the tree that fell between
Two blocks, yet touched neither.
Of the greenhouse in the middle of the road,
All glass still intact.
Yet only eighteen died.
The saddest part of all
Was that the wind was salt laden,
It killed the colours of autumn
All over the borough.
So that day when we drove to the west
Was so very strange,
So very beautiful,
Because we drove into autumn.
-
Author:
Goldfinch60 (Pseudonym) (
Online) - Published: June 19th, 2020 00:02
- Comment from author about the poem: Memories.
- Category: Reflection
- Views: 17
- Users favorite of this poem: AwHec8, Accidental Poet.
Online)
Comments6
Good write Gold.
Thanks Orchi
BRAVO, BRAVO
For your words and the musical performance.
Thank you AP much appreciated.
Andy
Brian here - Good Afternoon Uncle Andy - Thanks for a WICKED Video ! Shades of Jango & Srephane and the Hot Club de Paris. Music to lift LOCKDOWN ! I was only 4 and Angela just a TWNKLE in 1987 but accordng to records & photos it did reap havock in Essex, Hundreds of trees where uprooted in the U of Essex and (according to Photos) the landscape altered for ever. It reaped havoc with Trees & Buildings but as you say *Only 18 Died* a miracle - AMEN !
Blessings & Peace to You & Ypurs
Love Brian & Angela & Smokie !
Please check SOCIAL DISTANCE - THANKS !
I remember it well. And every rogue trader that ever was was up and about and ripping off the householder. Taking deposits and disappearing or " I don't know what I'm doing but I'll have a go".
So true d a, it was amazing what was changed, Sevenoaks became Oneoak,, I saw a lne of poplar threes that looked as though they were cut halfway up their trunks. One of Joyce's colleagues said to her "'I've always wanted a tree in my garden - well I've got one now!"
Living in the Midlands I wasn't affected but I recall it all from the news reports of the day - fine write Andy.
Being in Kent we were seriously affected, if it had happened during the day instead of the night the death toll would have been unimaginable.
Andy
Mind, a vault of memories
So very true Suresh.
And
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