Boxing Day

The Point of Ayr: the most northerly part of mainland * Wales, where the estuary of the river Dee meets the sea



and a light house once marked the spot


and shone one light west towards Wales


and another east where the silted up shore of one country meets the sand banks of the other.


Salt marches and sand dunes rise now


guarded by a tin man


as blind, mute and dim as the stars in the sea.


*= added later. Many thanks to Richard Carter (see comments).