Sizewell

Make no mistake - in unintended ways
the name is apt: Sizewell.

The power is prodigious,
almost petrifying, even when contained
within the massive halls
that cast a giant shadow, 
looming in the haze
along this shoreline.
It is a glaring contradiction
of outstanding natural beauty.

Make no mistake - 
the contrast confronts you
when you look across
from Minsmere,
the cradling reserve
for so many thousand birds
and welcome wildlife.

Make no mistake – here the peace
is peace of mind, not silence.

On this rich reserve,
meticulously managed 
over many years, life teems
miraculously at every level.
and often noisily.
Something, it seems,
to shout about, but quietly, 
from every blade of grass,
or treetop leaf, or lap of water
on this caretaking mere.

Make no mistake – there,
just along the shore, at Sizewell,
the giant, silent halls provide prodigious power
for another kind of life - for good it seems.
Their peace is of a different kind,
but maybe not for peace of mind.


January 2016