Towering Giants.
The rusty frames have faded into the background,
beyond the comprehension of the busy lives bustling underneath,
the silent gaze of the towering giants,
steadfast vigil beside the dark river,
strangers’ eyes see the flaking struts,
derelict complaints can’t reach the pigeons nesting over Verolme,
These old familiar shapes once had motion,
the long lifeless chains once toiled,
hoisting plate steel upon the boom & jib,
dirt & sweat lowering bread upon the tables,
of those that climbed the ladders,
worn hands with black dirt engrained.
Tired forms slaked thirst inside the Smugglers,
read papers smudged by caulkers,
red-eyed welders sat like monks,
in contemplation of the seam,
wreathed in poison smoke,
attendant to the birthing bed,
of Irish Oak and Ash, of Aisling and of Emer.
Sickbed of a thousand weary hulls,
footings in the dock of industry,
outstretched arms into the air,
dismembered for the breaker’s yard,
to fade from memory of the passers-by,
rent asunder in the final days.
Lest the crumbling lattice remove a life,
crashing into the cool shadow below,
or casting a hoist or sheave into the channel,
hooking the weary rumbling merchants,
like the swift runs of summer mackerel,
frozen now in the rarest of snows,
as the towering giants get pulled down.
By Ruairí de Barra.
The two historic cranes which loomed large over Cork Harbour for six decades were dismantled in early 2018.
The cranes were used for building ships at the Verolme Dockyard at Rushbrooke, which closed in 1984.
They had been central to the skyline of Rushbrooke, west of Cobh and across the harbour from Monkstown, for over 60 years.
I passed them nearly every day, and I feel the landscape will be a little less without the towering giants above us.
First published in Live Encounters, September 2018. You can read the four poems on the Live Encounters website, or download a free PDF copy, by clicking here.
Live Encounters is a wonderful publication, and all of its issues, as well as special editions, may be found on its website at https://liveencounters.net/.
I would like to thank Mark Ulyseas for seeing fit to include my work in the company of some incredibly talented people.
Leave a Reply