Port Erin

Stern Bradda with its crowning tower

Stands sentinel

Towards the north,

And guards this westward looking shore;

And none may tell

Who now gaze forth

What Bradda looked like without Milner’s stones

Erected on its brow.

 

Kione ny Garee, or the Garden Head

Leads to the south and rises to the Mull

Where met the Ancient Ones

Who are long dead,

And do not matter now;

Their urn of days with many sunsets full.

These stand inviolate, untouched by time,

Unshaken by the pounding seas.

 

But where man in his prime

Unbounded confidence  and expertise

Thought to protect the harbour from the  shocks

Of gales from the south west

With a colossal jetty, wind and wave

Conspired together, tossed the concrete blocks

As might a child his toys,

And with a fury manifest

Did so behave

That man was shaken from his conscious poise

And turned his thoughts instead,

Planning for guests to be well housed and fed !

 

Mona’s Herald     4.12.62