The Dover South Wind

Was cooling as the day faded

It was almost dark

I was waiting

With a few others

For the express train to pass

And then in the bleak December air

I heard the locomotive in the distance

Working hard as it climbed the slim gradient

Towards this almost silent station

The Golden Arrow then appeared

From the darkness of the cutting

It passed me in an instant screaming loudly

And then vanished into the vacancy of the night


I wrote this poem shortly afterwards

As I gathered my thoughts

It is the only record of my visit



The Golden Arrow passed through
Walmer Railway Station in Kent
On the evening of the sixteenth of December 2023