Photo by artist and photographer Nick Dormand

There is the pick-axe head, but no skull,
all pebbles cranial though too small to
tease, and a beachcomber might at first
think it has been carried by the tide over
so many miles, but with that weight this is
dubious, even considering the shifting of
tons and tons up and down that coastline,
especially in recent high waves. It will
have been more menial – and less awful –
a handle the only missing link with its past,
rusted by sea-salt rather than blood stains,
likely left after digging holes for balustrades.

Having said that, who knows what floated
way off shore, shaft in a boat’s dark hull.