Shipwright

The big unfinished ships squat on the beach,

bodies on their backs, bare ribs

bemoaning lost faith, so I

hurry past to something simpler,

clinker-built, water-tight, well-

suited to shallow ponds or

chalk-streams, easy to work with

adze and chisel, stopping my ears to the

ghost groans of the oak that

might have taken me out to sea.