Seafarers Memorial: 'Wick is a fabulous community and we've done it again'
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Local poet Jenny Szyfelbain said the Seafarers Memorial had "exceeded all expectations" and underlined the strength of Wick's community spirit.
Mrs Szyfelbain wrote a poem in honour of Alan Beattie Herriot's statue and she recited it during Saturday's unveiling ceremony at the Braehead.
"I think the occasion has been most apt and fitting," she said afterwards. "The man's work exceeded all expectations. It just epitomises the sea.
"It's an absolute work of art and it has made such a fabulous spot in this wee corner of Pulteney which of course I'm very proud of
"Power to everybody that has done it. Wick's a fabulous community and we've done it again."
Willie Watt, chairman of the Seafarers Memorial Group, described Mrs Szyfelbain's poem – entitled The Seafarers Memorial – as "very moving, very touching".
The Seafarers Memorial
Hail, Spirit of the Sea
As you stare out into the easterly horizon
Gazing at centuries of the changing faces of a wilful sea
Where men of ages gone looked out to gauge her fleeting moods
Before casting off in their drifters, handline yawls and seine-netters to glean a living.
Her fickle mood can change and the winds whip up, waves growing,
Rain and sea water lashing, men hanging on for their dear lives.
She is a cruel mistress, claiming lost souls overcome by raging seas
Hiding them in the depths of her lockers, never to be raised.
Then, the sun rises up from pale morning dawn into daylight and she is benign and playful,
Generous to all who sail her waters.
Hail, Spirit of the Sea, keep a watchful eye on the seafolk, offshore workers, fish gatherers and pleasure crafters and guide them home.
Jenny S Szyfelbain © 2023
