Cromer Pier

Poking like a finger out into sea

Its stone steps smile a warm welcome to me

No more the turnstile asking for your penny fee

Though once you’re on there nothing else is free

Battling the breeze and the icy cold spray
The old rusted railings a fresh coat of paint crave
Glance down between the planks at a crashing wave
And wonder if this aged walkway is really safe

Old wrought iron shelters from the Victorian era

Cleaning the windows would make the view clearer

The old wobbly telescope gets dearer and dearer

Even though is doesn’t seem to bring things much nearer

Happy young faces peer into the shop
Asking for ice cream, sweeties and pop
Buckets and spades, flags and flip-flops
Parents quite harassed, when will it all stop

Now for the arcade where it’s warm and dry

Rides for the kiddies and who can deny

Them money with which the slotters to ply

As now poorer parents just stand idly by

Back out on the pier on the rails at the end
Out into the deep the fishermen send
Long lines that are baited, just hoping to extend
An invite to a mackerel to get hooked on the end

Now for refreshments so its into the bar

The happiest that dad has been all day by far

Pop and crisps for the kiddies, a white wine for Ma

And just time for dad to fit in one more jar

Times getting on now, parents getting tired
Of the kids constant pestering, still not satisfied
With all the they’ve had so it’s time to decide
Fish and Chips all round. Well, it is the seaside

The pier’s now deserted, all the visitors gone

The arcade falls silent, and the lights that once shone

Have all been extinguished now, one by one

The fisherman’s tally of catch today – none

Darkness descends on the now empty pier
And into the black it just seems to disappear
The tide comes and goes, but morning is near
For a new dawn, and a new day in the life of the pier


 © Keith Johnson 2012