Worcestershire Litfest and Fringe annually appoint a poet laureate for Worcestershire. We are delighted to show case the talent of the incumbent poet, who has written a piece based on the ferry.
|
Paul Robert, Worcestershire Poet Laureate 2025-2026
|
|
Doris the Cathedral Ferry needs a new electric motor
|
|
I'm
Doris,
an old boat, a wooden boat,
green below, brown above,
clinker built with overlapping planks to keep me dry.
For years, I lobstered out of West Bay, Dorset, where Master Mark found me up a creek. Now I float passengers across the Severn. Between Easter and Michaelmas, between Chapter Meadows and Worcester Cathedral, a short summer sail for a handful of small change. People wait on the steps. Other boats give way and swans swerve around me. Like the river and its banks, the meadows and the trees, a thousand years of history swirls around us, over us, under and through us. Bateau d'or is a Ship of Theseus. For centuries our river ferry summer service has been a shortcut for milkmaids and monks, for farmers and Elgar. For all of this it's splendid value at only fifty pence each way. But when I come out of the water, I need to be loved. I need care and attention. I need help - I'll die without it. I need Master Stephen and his team of volunteers - I need brilliant Barney Burnham and his dad Ted before him. God rest their souls. I need to be scraped and sanded for a fresh coat of paint. I need winter covered storage and a rest. I'm a high-maintenance boat, I am. But I'm worth it. I need I need I need a blessing from the Dean.
But most of all right now
I need a new electric
motor.
|