Lunch with my father

At the beach the high water lapped calmly
against the stones of the new retaining wall
But aside from seeing that structure for the first time

the only surprise was just how clear the quietness can be
Later at your place we could at least agree
that over the years certain trees out-grew our expectations

and that the citruses at this season
lend the air a sweet tang
that no-one could mistake

You say you’ve gone off dark beers
and I add that I can’t take much wine these days
but the revels of the past are not forgotten

just called off with a laugh and a shrug
Times we may have shared are only memories
hardly more reliable than dreams

and almost as volatile as the future
Neither of us lays claim to the naming rights
but we build a mechanism for the impossible

and a generator of inventions
with things as flexible as words
Lunch has disappeared from our plates

the cat’s aslumber on one of the deck-chairs
and our eyes say it’s been a long time
The tool-maker and the word-smith

can admire one another’s craft
but the heart functions best in one’s own shop
Two-thirty and we ought to be back at work

Grant Duncan, 1.11.00