A DREAM OF BOATS

Fearing himself weak, not knowing its nature

and afraid of that too,

he took to drink in hope it would blot

the image of water washing across the prow.

And in those years of calm, he took

innumerable photos of his children

smiling side by side, and never realised

they were boats, fated to drift apart

but within reach of each other

while the mist cleared on a lake

not quite empty - another still at hand,

unreachable.