2nd place  Susan Wooden

3rd place   Tamara Minns

1st prize Tamara Minns

ENIGMA

The sea was spawned before time began,

Long before God blue-printed man

No greed, no poison, no manic wars

Just moonlight shadows on virgin shores

Men of learning throughout history

Have marvelled at its mystery

Searching for answers till their demise

Of a roaring monster in disguise

The mayflower fathers prayed the sea

Would sail them to religious liberty

When they turned their backs on a divided realm,

They knew their God was at the helm.

Sailor there’s no need to pray

The sea won’t heed a word you say.

No songs of praise sung on the quay

Can quell it’s thirsty savagery

Sometimes friend, more times foe

Heaven determines which way it shall flow.

Mother wash those tears away

Your boy would have it no other way

Will the sea remain when time has gone?

Yes mankind is weak, the sea is strong.

2nd prize Sue Ellis

HAIL THE SEA

Hail to the sea, all Mighty, all Powerful,

I salute you!

In awe of your splendour

I bow to thee.

Your beauty, your vastness, and magnificence,

Have inspired many to write reams.

Yet, you hide secrets.

In your deep waters many creatures call their home

Plant life with splendid colourful beauty

Hails another world.

An underwater wonderland is there to be discovered.

If I delve beneath your surface

Breaking through

the calm stillness of your glassy waters,

Dive downward into darkness

Lit only from above with rays of sunlight

That penetrate,

Your depths.

I’ll uncover your secrets.

Secrets

of that other world

Hidden from view.

Yet beware!

Danger lurks.

Your currents can turn,

your mood change

You can refuse to welcome intruders

rebelling from prying eyes

In your fury you can rise up unexpectedly,

Sucking innocent crafts into your towering waves

Destroying all in your rage.

You have my respect

Oh mighty sea

One day you could engulf our lands

And rule the world.

3rd prize Charles Huggett

Waves

In angry turmoil, seas crash and thunder

Water torn, white and ragged

Tops exploding, blown asunder,

Violent crests, sharp and jagged,

Onwards thrusting to the land

To crush it, mark it, with their brand.

Surging, rolling, undulating

Waves rise and swell in endless charging

Like ranks of cavalry unabating

Constantly contracting and enlarging

Desperately spending force to reach

That once distant, nearing beach.

Lapping gently on silken shore

Lazily running, they slide and slither

Softly now, with little bore

They procrastinate and dither

Pausing briefly to kiss the strand

And roll small pebbles on the sand.

A mystery too deep to fathom

Waters just as old as time

Flood and ebb in constant rhythm

Unceasing majestic and sublime

In all its moods uncomprehending

The sea must roll, it’s task unending.

These little oxo cubies

Rarer by far thanrubies

Or Smarties in their tubies

Putsome inpots or stews