Serious Moonlight

The sky we deserved looked down on us at midnight 

In the ink-dark town, in its black basements,
Where the parting hours cowered in doorways
With their small dashed hopes like cheap stars
Glistening on the dirty ground.

Other Side of the World

Twenty-five years
Of messages in wires,
Voices on telephone lines.

I saw his face in shadow,
Shadows crossing it,
On the other side of the world,
In his lightless room.

Deid Watter

Gillie Mhor, a seadog, twa wiks deid,
Wisna mindin i skrach o gulls an the heave o the deep
Nor profit an loss.
The doundraig neth I faem
Chawed his banes clean. An he rose an fell
Past aa his ages an his growin
As he sweelt roon Corryvreckan.
Billy or Tim,
Ye aa caa the wheel an see fit wye the win blaws,
Think on the Gillie Mhor, aince braw an as streetched as thee.

Enemy

Looking across a no-man’s land
In which you hesitate to dwell;
No possibility of recognition
At such a distance.

Tomorrow’s News

The pieces fell together at random. Bit by bit, the parareal jigsaw took on vestigial shape. Only the key pieces were missing: the key pieces, always the ones which don’t appear right away.

Seafog

Seafog is a different matter.

It takes a strong wind
To drive it away offshore,
Across the pebblestone beaches.