On a recent brief expedition to the Wollongong area, We lunched at Austinmer. Seeing the effects of the coastal environment on structures there reminded me of poems I had written some time ago on the theme “Impermanence”. Here is one of them. I shall add more over the next little while.

Impermanence

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Gutters

The iron-makers fill a firey tower 
With limestone, ore and coke – all won by mining.
They keep it running, hour after hour,
Then draw the iron off for more refining.
The new-born metal gets a brief repeal
But soon it feels the purifiers’ fire
Where it in time becomes low carbon steel –
So commonplace, yet something to admire.
It’s rolled until it’s thin enough, then sent
To where our gutters see the light of day
And painted, in an effort to prevent
Corrosion, but it surely will decay.
It’s ash to ashes, iron ore to rust
Formed and reformed from interstellar dust