Safe Haven

reflective poem

Safe Haven
The air was crisp;
Winter's glittering cascade had left
The world its frozen beauty to behold.
Skeleton trees bowed icy fingers earthward
Toward the virgin snow.
Nature's handiwork etched in white 
The darkened stonework of the Gothic bridge,
Long separated from its railway heritage.
The scene was peaceful and serene then -
Shock, dismay
Oh, sad reflection of our times,
A twisted metal of burnt-out wreck,
Once someone's pride and joy,
Abandoned, torched, mid debris scattered wide;
Foul stench of smoke,
Like ghostly echo of a bygone age,
Hung 'neath the bridge.
Two lifeless forms amid the debris lay,
A sorry sight!
A pair of wise old town birds,
Wild, not from some cosy well-kept loft,
Had sought a haven from the winter’s blast;
Safe in the eaves;
Where once they'd raised their chicks,
Huddled close for warmth, the hapless victims slept;
Two as one,
Thus, as they'd live