Imram

Travelling through the earth and sky

I chanced upon a boat.

The ropes went down to the sea like rivers,

The lights went out on the shore like shivers

The floorboards creaked in the damp and splinters

Splintered beneath the deck.

All the stars were howling loud -

Or was that the wind?

I could not tell.

All that was left was a ringing bell

As we pushed out to sea.

You and me,

Floating arose.

You and I,

Like a leaf and a rose,

Blossomed above an empty cloud

Raising our hopes

Like the pub’s last toasts

And the wedding feast rolled on.

The storm cloud passed upon

The chilling watery grave

Of all that was not dry land

All that was not my land

No place on earth was my home;

And so we sailored on.

Your hand in mine,

The tiller was safe.

Your heart with mine,

The striking gull’s wave

‘Where the wind’s like a whetted knife.'

All the round sea

Was clearer to me

Than all of the dusty earth's

Fields. I longed for a start

That was not after dark:

I looked for the keys to your heart.

All the world’s in your heart.