1

Her father embarked at sunrise

with a flask of water, a samurai sword
in the cockpit, a shaven head
full of powerful incantations
and enough fuel for a one-way
journey into history
2

but half way there, she thought,

recounting
but half wayit there,
later toshe
herthought,
children,
he must have
recounting looked
it later far down
to her children,
at
hethe little
must havefishing boats
looked far down
strung out like
at the little bunting
fishing boats
on a green-blue
strung translucent sea
out like bunting
on a green-blue translucent sea
3

and beneath them, arcing in swathes

like a huge flag waved first one way
then the other in a figure of eight,
the dark shoals of fishes
flashing silver as their bellies
swivelled towards the sun
4

and remembered how he

and
and his brothers waiting
remembered how heon the shore
built cairns
and his of pearl-grey
brothers waiting onpebbles
the shore
to seecairns
built whose of withstood
pearl-greylongest
pebbles
the turbulent
to see inrush of breakers
whose withstood longest
bringing their inrush
the turbulent father’sofboat safe
breakers
bringing their father’s boat safe
5

– yes, grandfather’s boat – safe

to the shore, salt-sodden, awash
with cloud-marked mackerel,
black crabs, feathery prawns,
the loose silver of whitebait and once
a tuna, the dark prince, muscular, dangerous.
6

And though he came back

my
Andmother
thoughnever spoke
he came again
back
in
myhis presence,
mother nevernor did she
spoke meet his eyes
again
and
in histhe neighbours
presence, too,she
nor did they treated
meet him
his eyes
as
andthough he no longer
the neighbours too,existed,
they treated him
only we children
as though still chattered
he no longer existed,and laughed
only we children still chattered and laughed
7

till gradually we too learned

to be silent, to live as though
he had never returned, that this
was no longer the father we loved.
And sometimes, she said, he must have wondered
which had been the better way to die.