Peter Scupham
Outing for the Handicapped Children
The held boat rocks to the staithe. Cautious, absorbed,
The children coax their limbs to their intent.
Her crutch blinks in the sun. Cheated by absent muscles,
He sinks with dazed acceptance to the grass.
About them, nervous in the gentle air,
Hands hover and fuss; glad to be ignored.
The day swells, unfolds. Laughter, scattered talk.
We hoist through dripping locks, part the dry sedges,
Plotting a fluent course by trees and swans
While summer, soft and potent, blurs through the awning,
Soaking the varnished wood. Torpid as grounded bees,
Their dangled fingers comb the river's skin.
They manage, patient; share with buns and fruit
A shaming kindness. Tamed, drowsy, separate,
We offer them our slow, unnatural smiles;
Tremble with intimations of their pains.
Now, as the day we gave, or stole, edges away,
The cool depths pull their faces from the light.
Page(s) 270
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