Poem 297

Another extended metaphor for sleep – see Poem 72 and Poem 200 … written in 1987 and not really thought of since but it’s satisfying how the picture is built up then the focus pulled at the end to see everything differently as the poem resolves into a comforting domestic scene, the intimacy of one partner watching the other slide into sleep …

( I like the image of oars ladling water, the smooth machinery of wrists in the action of rowing and the simple resonance of the sea is wide perhaps because I unconsciously echoed it from the song Carrickfergus – ‘the sea is wide and I can’t cross over’ – so it comes already supplied with a sense of separation … )

Watching You

You push out the boat
and row away from me slowly
steadily
              as breaths the oars
ladle into the water
the smooth machinery of your wrists
turning driving you straight
      into the sun
you row out beyond where I can call
      and stop and leave the oars
               pointing up
you sit for a long time silent
out on the sea
                           and also within
the red-fleshed sunset of my fingers
curled to my eyes
                                   then it seems
you see something interesting
inside the water and dive in
     a soundless splash
I count five minutes
                                     nothing
another five minutes the boat sinks
oars last
                like legs
I uncurl my binocular fists stiffly
from a patch of water like any other
          the sea is wide and your story
comes back mixed with so many others
it's like trying to pick one bee
out of a summer

(don't worry
                         these are just images
we're home in bed
you've only gone to sleep
and I can't see you any more)