The almost never-ending
Line of the horizon
As the ship
Sails perpendicular
At the absolute right angle
For time and distance
To be no time or distance at all
From the minor wave to the major swell
I am reminded of the rule of sevens
But, right then
Right there
A small fishing boat
With anchor dropped
On to the unseen sea bed says:
I am the one
One boat
One man
One noisy noisy dog
One island
One man
One quiet quiet life
Say hello
Say goodbye
See you again tomorrow
Go now
Go downstairs
Find the love
Of early mornings
Sat at the kitchen table
With pen and paper
And a mug of tea
Lights flicker
Swell rises
Then falls
Now it is the engine's rotation
Which hums and vibrates
As we leave the land behind
As you have left
More than your land
Or your kingdoms
Sun falls
On the cabin window
Clear view
All the way
To the seamless horizon
Of sea and sky of sky and sea
In this moment
Alone again or
Wherever the beams linger
There is an open-topped bus
On the hour
If it’s not raining
Other than that
It’s three-quarters of an hour
For the regular service
Somehow the folk
Look altogether older
Perhaps down here
They flew too near to the sun
In their youth
Whereas I stayed up north
But no
The open-topped route
Is finished for the day
How fortunate are we
To wait in this bus-station
While clouds and national
Cyclists routinely pass by
It’s twelve o’clock
Can you not
Hear the bells ringing
It’s a cool breeze
And only one hour
Until we enter
The open-air
Lido swimming pool
With geo-thermic partition
Are there lockers I wonder
What if we should lose
Our tickets to the Scilly Isles
I don’t expect
That it was this quiet
During the school holidays
