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National Speed Limit

I remember all you said now

With such painful clarity

As the mist has lifted from those years

And yet again you have walked into my life

From the backdrop of the hills

Where I once asked you to stay

But I find that maybe I can face you now

And listen to the truth

You wanted to tell me

That in taking this advice like a shortcut

It saves you from going the long way round

To realise that love is stored in memories

And speeding past them

Just puts off the pain

That builds and builds if you find

You can’t remember them

When you need to once again

 

*****

 

The Long Man of Wilmington has always been there in my life, like a member of the family. We passed him so many times either in the car or walking up to him with our dogs that I daresay we took him for granted sometimes.

 

Then the sight of him became painful..as he reminded me of the people I had lost, with so many conversations that were had in the past, gazing at him from the car park and the road as we went by.

 

But now, like the mist, time has softened some of those feelings, and now I find he is a comfort to me, a friend. He is always there, and reminds me of the memories I can cope with, ones that contain nonsense and only things that a family would know.

 

He brings that family close again, specially those who I thought I had lost forever.

 

This work can also be found on a new page about the Sussex landscape on my website, as I have written quite a few works inspired by the photography I have taken over the years recently, so I decided that there was going to be enough to merit the addition of a separate page on its own for those works that challenge our perception of what we are seeing and perhaps more accurately, what we are feeling.

The page is called Land Sense, and it is a celebration of how the landscape interacts with our emotions, our wellbeing and at times, the ability to take us out of our comfort zone.

 

More will be added over time, but here is a link where an introduction can be found and the poems designed in such a way that they become a complete work with the image as a viewing experience.

 

Please click here:

 

www.shelleyturnerpoetpix.com/land-sense

 

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Uploaded on June 19, 2025
Taken on February 2, 2024