Chalky Dover

Just like a billboard
At sea…white chalk
And much loved.
Vera Lynn’s Song.
Site of Elizabeth’s charge
To steaming horses
And men
Awaiting the Spaniards.
Awaiting loss of their Island
Or not.
Fade to WW2…
Nightly those bombers
Of Huns pass over.
Dropping payloads
On the City of
Refined Hearts.
Subway tube asylum
With bombs, sirens and
Fires above.
My Dad almost perished there.
But no
He stood outside
Buckingham
As Winston announced Peace
In Europe.
Peace, now felt
Around Dover.
Smugglers of Rye
Faint memories for tourists.
Peace, in a culture
A language
A people
Prevailing.
On their pint-size
Chunk of Rock