Candle on the Beach

This poem was written by a friend of the family in memory of Crispin, Richard's photographer son, who was loved by all who knew him.

The picture was painted during Crispin's illness.

 

A steep-to pebble beach or shore

            cobbled with skull-like flints

and, wedged between, a leaning stump

            of candle wafts and winks.

 

The grey sky is in shreds, the grey

            sea smudged with lumps of white.

A fishing boat thumps through these seas,

            stemming wind and tide.

 

The smear of wet wind makes all grey

            but for the flag of flame,

tricked yellow to the wick, about

            to blow out so it seems.

 

The painter's son was dying from

            a tumour in the brain

that was inoperable, and so

            this silent scream of pain.