Astride the old bridge
Watching the waters below
Pondering the day
Gentle chorus line,
Conducted by two lamp posts,
Serenades brown rocks
©Alan McKean
©Simon Footitt (painting)
Chorus Line
Category: Art
Lighthouse and beach
Incoming tide
White sails
Ride the stormclouds
Lighthouse Island
Wonky street lamp
Points a gentle finger
At the spiral of windows
Climbing the lighthouse
The houses
On lighthouse Island
Stare out to sea
With astonished faces
Hoping
For a low tide
©Alan McKean, January 2026
Island Castles
Another painting by Simon Footitt
Castles in the air
Dip their toes in the water
Whilst watching the gulls
Without a care in the world
Or are their eyes hiding things?
©Alan McKean, January 2026
Lighthouse
A finger of brick and light
Standing proud on the headland,
Watching
The beach
Watching
The rolling grey waters
Watching
The ships at sea
Sharing the warmth and safety
Of its shining beam,
Guiding clear
Or welcoming home.
The lighthouse keeper
Sits,
And ponders…………
“that bloody tree needs cutting!”
©Alan McKean, 18 January 2026
© Simon Footitt (painting)
The girl in the window
Arms resting on knees,
The girl in the window
Stares out
Over the landscape below
Watching the lives
Of the people,
Watching the life
Of the valley,
Through the changing year.
Seeing life
Through a glass wall,
Without the need
Of joining in.
Safe
©Alan McKean.
©Emi Cook (painting)
Green Viper’s Eye
©Emi Cook (painting)
Eye of The Viper
Looking deep into the soul
Of its next victim
Kites
Tails of the East Wind
Coloured streamers chase the tide
Beach huts stay silent
©Alan McKean
©Emi Cook (painting)
Viper
‘ware
the watching eye
of the viper
‘ware
The silent slither
Through quiet grass
‘ware
The flickering tongue
As it smells success
‘ware
The lightning fangs
In your leg
As you sink
Into darkness
‘ware
The
Viper
©Alan McKean
©Emi Cook (painting)
Augenblick
Pinpricks in the sky
The night stars
Call my name
As they follow
Their preordained paths
Around eternity
Ageless in appearance
Ageing fiercely
In the atomic fires
Of their birth.
The universe
Is violent,
The image is serene
The dichotomy of existence
And perception,
As we remain
Ein Augenblick
In the Cosmos
© Alan McKean
© Emi Cook (painting)