THAMES SIDE TRYST
Through the watery wasteland where Surrey
touches the fringes of Middlesex to create
reservoirs, distant impressions of gravel workings
a skeletal landscape pock marked by bungalows
nudged by water weary boats shunted and left
with curtains drawn, I drove past purbind vistas
where my memories mixed from the old palettes
a pale wash and weariness:
Laleham, Shepperton, Charlton, Halliford
searching a route to where I was to meet a friend;
we met after so many years, two careers
feasting on music now watching the embers float away
to tea and Thames, our thoughts flowing together
pinned down by time's excrescences and wild weather.
raypool
Sun 17th Dec 2023 15:22
Thanks for the likes Red Brick Keshner, Mark, Hugh and Holden.
I do like a bit of Betjeman Stephen! Naming of places helps . Thanks for the compliment.
I'm glad I sparked off your interest Carlton. It's a very low lying area and one where I grew up, so it has that nostalgic element. Excrescences is a fairly ugly word, and age brings it as a gift in many cases!
Thanks for looking in Greg. I live in a bungalow but it is tucked in each side by two. I find them redolent of the seaside and often marked by gnomes and pixies and the like. The reservoirs are mysterious places to me, but with the effort of walking them there again is another world. The ones near Staines where I lived were heavily defended during WW2 by large artillery guns. Imagine a minor Moehne dam disaster on your own doorstep!
Ray