Low Finisterre 1007 Losing Its Identity By The Same Time

It’s BBC Radio 4
but the familiar

litany of
THE SHIPPING FORECAST

is alas...maimed
not the same.

They changed
a national institution

of the mind
redeveloped the mental landscape.

They have even dare to have it
moved

by 15 minutes
and renamed

FINISTERRE
...FITZROY.

L ike
...why?

It isn’t cricket
...is it?

This the beloved
Lord’s Prayer of places.

Not even a great British
outrage could save it

change
the changes.

For years
its well worn sounds

embedded in
our head

the national psyche

as we drifted off
to sleep

perchance to dream
with SAILING BY.

But secretly we recite
night by night

re-instating
FINISTERRE

le tting FITZROY
sink to the bottom of our minds

drown

as we cuddle up
to the long loved

old familiar
sounds.

poem by Dónall Dempsey
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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