My poem Immortal Yearnings expresses that at times we're all...
Trapped in the same cage,
hearing the tick-tick
of a swimming clock.
Life is like this sometimes, and the statue that now resides in the grounds of The Palmhouse in Sefton park encapsulates the melancholic echoes of nostalgia that resonate in the lines of the poem.
This statue of Peter Pan has been located in various places in Sefton Park all my life, a constant reminder of J M Barries' tale of eternal youth - a panacea for some of my worst memories of childhood.
Back when I was a kid (a long while ago now 😉) this statue of Peter Pan was located near a replica of captain hook's boat on one of the park's many small lakes, surrounded by ducks and geese that seemed to have adopted it as a kind of big brother, a fellow immobile bird providing constant protection.
I still remember playing around this statue and even climbing on it to find all the small animals, fairies and nymphs that adorned the plinth that Peter stood upon. I remember the statue had patches of silver where industrious children had worn away the brass gilt through their clambering.
But that was OK, kids will be kids and a large portion of my best childhood memories were of climbing trees, statues and even in and around derelict buildings (I grew up in a rough area of Liverpool called Toxteth).
Those silver patches created by our small childhood hands have gone due to the great restoration work on the statue by the park authorities before they moved it to its new location at The Palmhouse.
However, I'm somewhat ambivalent about those vanished silver patches as they paid homage to the nature of my memories of childhood, often fleeting to fade in the detail, yet their core stays strong as a rock. As strong as those immortal yearnings that sit at the heart of many humans, and that J M Barrie expressed so well in his book, touching on the duality of how our memories create an almost immortal childhood.
How would you develop or grow as an immortal child?
I think ultimately an immortal child would stagnate, wither and descend into madness.
But at least the statue remains... a constant in my life. An immortal child cast in brass, reminding me of halcyon days and summer adventures in the innocence of youth.
Thanks for reading 🌿
All photos and media design used in this post are my own.
Camera: Samsung S7 Smart Phone. The poem pictured at the beginning of the post is my own work, published in 'Poetry Pool' anthology 2006.
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