Summer Memories (A Skipsea Lament)

The sand is soft beneath my feet, Along the shore I slowly stroll; And up the beach, so gently washed Are pebbles so smooth, so small. A gentle breeze now tousles my hair - I see the wavelets shimmer and dance; They sparkle and glitter in sun so bright - I shield my eyes then up I glance - Above me now a pair of gulls - They screech and circle to and fro; On the horizon a tanker I see - Destined for where? I do not know. I dimly see the summer haze Far-distant Bempton Cliffs enshroud; With Flamborough Light House standing high - ‘Pon cliffs of chalk it stands so proud. Above me here are cliffs of clay That slump and slip onto the shore; Roads and paths destroyed so fast - Houses gone for ever more. A road to nowhere ‘bove my head, The road to Ulrome - ‘tis no more - As over the edge of the cliff it hangs, So high above the sandy shore. What now for Skipsea on coast so frail? The sea so calm and peaceful …… yet? So brutal and ruthless it can be - Its vagaries let us not forget. My mind’s confused – the cliffs retreat - But sea’s so calm – my life console; The sand’s still soft beneath my feet, As back along the shore I stroll. 1 November 2021 Skipsea and Ulrome are villages on the east coast of East Yorkshire south of the coastal town of Bridlington. The coast here is composed of boulder clay that is eroding very quickly – at about 3-4 metres a year. The road from Skipsea to Ulrome ran north along the cliffs and was passable in 1990. By 2000 it had been breached completely, along with houses and much land that had been given over to caravan parks. Actually the villages of Skipsea and Ulrome are a little inland and not in immediate danger from coastal erosion – but only a little inland!