FROM THE HILLTOP
I walked to the top of the hill overlooking the bay,
Before me was the sea, pounding in it’s own special way,
To my a left the rugged coast line as far as you can see,
With the seagulls flying above my head talking to me.

Yet to my right and behind there is a different scene,
A small village and a meadow of the sweetest green,
I could hear the children laughing as they played,
And heard the church clock chime as if it prayed.

That hilltop showed to me two sides of every life,
Peace and tranquillity and also trouble and strife,
The serenity of the village with homes cosy and warm,
Right next to the mighty sea with it’s many fierce storm.

As I saw the children playing in the meadow below,
So happy they all seemed as about their games they did go,
So close they were to danger, so close to death and fear,
Yet their laughter was so full of love and good cheer.

I looked at the village as the lights came on one by one,
With evening the wind grew strong a storm was coming on,
The children wended homeward running hand in hand
Until only one remained from that happy little band.

I watched the child, he headed to the lighthouse tall
That was perched high upon a cliff, I thought he would fall,
For the path seemed narrow and steep, but he arrived at last
And I wandered into the village to have my daily repast.

The hill protected the village from the storm’s cruel fury,
But the ringing of the church bell awoke me in a hurry,
I threw on my clothes, although I did not know why,
There was some ship in trouble on those seas so high.

A group of men struggled hard to get the lifeboat free,
They were willing to risk their lives on the wild sea
To rescue the folks on the floundering boat out there,
Those who could not help bowed their heads in prayer.

The boat was seen well in the glow from the beam
That the lighthouse threw out, I gazed as if in a dream,
Trouble came to that small village in the dark of night
And everyone rallied so to help with all their might.

Voices could not be heard above the wind and the sea,
But the lifeboat had made it, sailors were being set free
From a death in the ocean by some unknown village small,
Yet the next day they went on as though nothing happened at all.

M Ann Margetson October 11, 2001