Plemont

For my Saturday poem this week, with a decision pending next week in the States over helping the National Trust buy the Plemont headland, I thought I'd turn my eye towards that. While there are grounds for prudence over financial decisions, I think there really can be only one choice if you look at Plemont as a poet.
 
Plemont
 
Windswept headland, craggy coast:
This is Plemont, at times the most
Desolate of places, when the rain
Beats down, and cold wind again
Blows over that shore, up ravines,
And chilling to bones by any means;
I went there at Easter, took my girl
To see the waves break and curl
Among those rocks; a place of joy:
Except for sailors, where land ahoy,
Means strong currents, dashing hard;
And yet above, the headland scarred,
By the broken remains, ugly, burnt,
Holiday camp in decay, undercurrent
Of neglect, of being left to rot away,
Where only rats now come to play;
In tourism's golden years, long ago
They came in droves; a camp aglow
With happy laughter of families here
But the future price to pay, so dear
Camp emptied, left, relic of past glory
And this was also the sad, sad, story
Of how Plemont came to be. And after
Plans for houses And no more laughter;
Just profound sadness at this final loss;
But now perhaps a chance, to move across
From despair to hope, to see once more
So wild and beautiful above the shore:
Plemont as it once was, a new creation
Waiting to be born, now in gestation;
And dare I hope, generations yet unborn
Will not have to despair and mourn;
But instead, the land will return to us all,
And we shall hear again the puffin's call,
And rejoice this day, when words spoken,
Decisions taken, restored what was broken;
To heal the land, above the seas great deep.
We will make a promise that we will keep;
The gorse flowers yellow, shining bright
And the scent of heather to give delight;
All of wild nature in her glorious dance:
This awaits us, if we seize the chance;
So let us not give in, or rue the day,
And let us not give in to dread dismay,
Let us rejoice, that we did all we could:
To save this coast for the common good.