when you took my arm (a poem)

when you took my arm
the very first time,
that night on the waterfront,
our closeness effortless,
our steps seamless -
how could you have been here all along,
and i never knew? -
and you nattered away with our companions
like it was the most natural thing in the world,

i wanted to summon an old jack tar
from the ghosts of the tall ships,
and, with calloused hands and hempen rope,
have him lash us to the moment
as to a mainmast,
high above the smoke of the cannon,
forever damning the torpedoes.

but from the quarterdeck,
the ship's astronomer announces
the celestial conjunction,
the transit of mercury;
look quickly, it will soon be gone,
but do not stare naively into the sun,
lest you see nothing,
and then nothing.

so we sat at the captain's table,
passing the wine and the stories,
and i wondered if the brush of your knee
was an accident or something you purposed.

for that moment i forgot the soothsayer's forecast,
one on a raft on a wide sea.

and i was happy.

   - O Ceallaigh

Copyright © 2006 Felloffatruck Publications. All wrongs deplored.

All opinions are mine as a private citizen.