THE HANDSTAND

JULY 2003

THE MIRROR BOAT

(Near Nogra, Kinvara, Co.Galway)

Sucked to the oxters in black mud,

It catches light in a sunk belly of water,

Like a net cradling a tin-foil leap of fish,

It is shaped by what the light does.

Light plays in the gaps in the stone

Tower, as if a mediaeval thought

Perched in its stone like a bird, praising

Light from the eyes of a loved woman.

Not too far over, the old priest-poet

In his school, taught a fidgety brood

Stiff with cold to read by the light

Of the soul straining for the light of God.

And in your own time a girl walking

Over the stone bridge, a child by the hand,

Caused the light to open and illuminate

A small space in your head to read yourself by.

Fred Johnston©2003