The Tide

The flood withdrew from the emerald isles and inlets
Of Anderitum; no longer lapped Andredsweald,
Aligned this pebbled shore; now inhales twice
A day, to give back twenty feet of crabby shore.

Pevensey vainly masquerades as ‘terra firma’
But sheep cannot fatten there long for long.
Its Roman castle walls, breached by Norman greed,
Half crushed, have patient footings, metres deep.

History’s time and tide will bide their hour:
The flood will rise again, beyond this minimum.
Refloat the Castle, recreate the little isles,
Sculpt again a wooded coast of cornishe charm.

Our transitory life has it own internal tides.
But this historic tide has a slower ebb and flow,
By hour, by century, powered by a mighty Hand
And by our stomach to consume, before we die.

Alison Bailey Castellina
6 June 2019

As an explanation, I wrote this text as ‘wall art’ because I cannot find a poem about “Tides” that seems fitting. It is also about climate change and future sea level rise. More background:

• In Roman Times, the English Forest of the Weald, was named after the mighty Roman Castle of Anderitum (Pevensey Castle) which controlled Saxon pirates in the English Channel.
• The Saxons called it “Anderidasweald”, now shortened to "The Weald". Wald is a German word in origin.
• The Weald is 150 miles long and 30 miles wide. It is half intact in many places, still being the most wooded part of England, so helping to manage our carbon emissions.
• In Roman and Norman times, the English Channel was 10 metres higher. It created many little islands and inlets, including the sea on three sides of Anderitum Castle (Pevensey Castle) which the Norman fleet captured on their first morning, in October 1066. Bexhill and Hastings were peninsulas. The surrounding coastline was romantic and ‘cornishe’ in appearance, with various tidal inlets. 
• Pevensey Castle is now a mile from the receded sea.
• In medieval times, the sea level dropped by at least 10 metres. The old bay at Pevensey became land and ‘levels’ for sheep grazing. Pevensey Levels are a flat area, once a bay where sheep graze.
• With climate change, this process will reverse, but this time, the flood will continue to rise and rise - unless nations reduce their carbon emissions in time
• Christians attribute the control of sea level to divine Providence, but now our carbon emitting habits, such as flights, using private transport, energy use and eating non-local foods are contributing to the inexorable rise of the oceans, which will obliterate not just the well-rooted Castle, but our entire shoreline, towns, land and our ancient history.