Jenny Hamlett
Catching the Hythe Ferry
There is nothing
to be done
about water,
those minute waves
moving forward like friends
to caress the beach,
the way the tides leave
the shore dry and high up,
full of black stones and muddy weed;
a place scalped of beauty.
Water will fall
against rotten boards
that bolster up land
thinly. Flood warnings stand
like stick-soldiers against tanks.
No, there is nothing to be done,
no catching a bus or speeding in the car
across its smoothness - only wait.
Wait for the slow ferry to dock.
Wait for all the looping and unlooping of rope
around the bollard.
Such a ritual—barely moved on
since pre-history—
steadies lives back.
to be done
about water,
those minute waves
moving forward like friends
to caress the beach,
the way the tides leave
the shore dry and high up,
full of black stones and muddy weed;
a place scalped of beauty.
Water will fall
against rotten boards
that bolster up land
thinly. Flood warnings stand
like stick-soldiers against tanks.
No, there is nothing to be done,
no catching a bus or speeding in the car
across its smoothness - only wait.
Wait for the slow ferry to dock.
Wait for all the looping and unlooping of rope
around the bollard.
Such a ritual—barely moved on
since pre-history—
steadies lives back.
Page(s) 26
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