David Thear has penned a charming, though sad, poem about the Cam as he watched it decline from his window overlooking the river in Newport.
The River Cam by David Thear:
Our river is dying, farewell to the stream
and the sparkling light on the water I’ve seen.
Gone are the dragonflies and fishes that swim,
now the channel’s dried up with weeds to the brim.
The kingfisher’s fled to the brook in a glade
where water still flows in a silver cascade.
This is not global warming or rainfall we’ve lost,
just short-sighted building of houses that cost.
The Environment Agency’s job is to see
that our chalk stream is healthy, flowing and free.
So what are they doing? It’s gone on too long,
with twenty-odd years since things all went wrong.
If you are doubtful, Station Road has a bridge
where the Cam’s a neglected weed-ridden ditch.
