Birth of a Dream

 

 

Men scramble over the skeletal frame

In the gloom of the cold dark hall

The flash of acetylene torches

Casting shadows across the wall

 

 

Sheets of grey steel cut and bent

To clad the upright frames

The screech and clang of falling plates

All part of her growing pains

 

 

Like some giant jigsaw puzzle

Created in the loft above

Drawn and cut with expertise

To fit like hand and glove

 

 

For months on end the work goes on

At an ever gathering pace

The deadline drawing nearer

Time now controls the race

 

 

Her hull now all assembled

The painters now move in

Covering her all in colour

Giving life to cold grey skin

 

 

As her day of birth draws nearer

She is moved towards the door

Awaiting the winter sunlight

In a cold dark winter hoar

 

 

She appears in the watery sunshine

Bedecked with flags flown high

She awaits for the crowds to gather

As her bow points to the sky

 

 

Her Godmother steps up to the rail

To bless all and give her a name

Breaks the bottle across her bow

It is also her day of fame

 

 

Freed at last from her fettering chains

She moves slowly towards the sea

Into her mother’s arms she glides

Andromeda now is free.

 

 

Jim Campbell