Weathered board.
Rusted nail.
Corroded iron-wrought solidity.
Tread tentatively my friend.
We are alone.
We are offshore.
Chatter is swallowed by iodine laced wind.
'ffffshhhhhfffffshhhhffffffffffffshhhhhhhhffffff'
Come on make steps.
Lean into the gale.
"Walk the plank mate..."
It beckons you onwards.
Reluctantly you are drawn.
"Keep walking."
"Don't look down."
Don't look through the gaps.
However sure the deck...
The swirl of waves, the rising spray, the barnacle armed struts below, tell a tale.
"Man overboard!"
His skin is sliced by shell as he drowns appalled.
"Don't look down."
Don't look through the gaps.
Don't muse an instant.
Gulls slide windwards, angling down.
Gulls, stare blankly, calling ocean.
Come on make steps.
Lean into the gale.
A pier takes us only so far.
'ffffshhhhhfffffshhhhffffffffffffshhhhhhhhffffff'
Hold on fast now.
Gaze out with me a moment.
Blurring in grey water wash...we, sky, & wave are one.
'ffffshhhhhfffffshhhhffffffffffffshhhhhhhhffffff'
Pier Image TravellerQLD
Shorncliffe Pier Looking Down
Wave Gif
http://www.gifbay.com/gif/waves-77167
Not Waving but Drowning
ReplyDeleteBY STEVIE SMITH 1902–1971
Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.
Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he’s dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,
They said.
Oh, no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead one lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.