anchorage
from the deep anchorage
in cold harbour
the slate seas hide in high pitched depths
the oceans crumbling and calls
of beautiful shoals of tuna
and pursuing pods of porpoise
whilst round the narrow straits the hammer head
and whites await
in harmony with the chasers
though respectful that they deserve
the first for their feats
and in the wisdom that is the natural world
not all those fated are feasted
and not all the participants
are necessarily sated
likeways though the aulos and the drum
have called the men of war to council
some have chased across the seas
like cetacea
lumpen old and cautious
clad in the barnacles of
hard won wisdom
like nestors trolley
and others sprightly young
have leapt like lithe dolphins
but one will not forsake the plough
and the other wary of the oracles of destiny
will not plough the waters
or prow the local politics
for however bright the constellation
of war and plunder
there is certainly an embryonic cost
that is known to wiser heads
or richer larders
than to scant fed islandeers
whose threadbare crofts
prove the tenuous salt existence
where are you when the bells of brotherhood
and fealty have sounded
did the shingle shores and clarion gulls
drown the calls for help
are you too obese to want to walk the mile
to help your kin
are you disenfranchised of their needs
or have you an agenda of your own
to heir whereby you might inherit
all both fields and favours
and dine upon another's industry
and steal the souls of Egypt