Waiting for a wind

Have you ever visited Covehithe in Suffolk? A village gradually being taken by The North Sea.

They wait in quietus for their final voyage
on a sea they knew as well as land,
which seeks again to soak their limbs.

Anchored firmly by a shattered church
raised for transfer to a promised eternity
now a finite monument to human pride.

Stone sails set goosewing for the wind
anticipating a zephyr from the West.
Long raised in hope and now lichen edged.

But encroachment comes from the East
with Moon’s urge and each tide’s surge
the mooring edges to approaching waves.

Patience ancient sailors in Covehithe’s bowels.
Ready your vessels, keep your graves ship-shape,
your launch for Doggerland* just takes time.

*Doggerland was the area of land that connected England to the rest of Europe. It was covered by the North Sea about 8200 years ago.