Tide’s Out – Written either Wednesday 27th November 1996 or Thursday 28th November 1996

Tide’s Out

tide’s out,
sea far away
taking with it, the cold
tide’s out,
but i am
struggling here with the day
weather’s cold and biting
and the search for you is,
rarely enlightening
tide’s far away
ebbing at some other shore
seaside all alone
mud flats and crab’s roam
i sit here in suburbia
while you are being thrown
tide’s out,
in a real kind of way
pollution sinking slowly
into soft land
all i know as i look
is that there are very few things,
i understand
tide’s out

This written on the train going up to London on a very cold morning. I remember writing it between Leigh on sea Station and Benfleet Station in Essex. I have a very clear memory of looking out of the train window and writing this.

More poems at
https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/

James Garratt – November 1996