burst above the town,
every pulse quickened
and sense was magnified,
as the implosion displaced the core of being.
And every ear suspended,
waited in trepidation
for a sound unfailing.
A second dull thud above the town.
A special sound.
Our sound.
Not heard in towns inland
nor in the country,
but our unique cry for help.
An essence of being
where men,
unknown and unseen
abandoning normal things,
veered out into the abyss.
Their testament?
An omni-presence.
A gravitation that drew me
fearless, fighting and in pursuit,
out against the wind
along the narrow abandoned streets
and down on to the harbour
where, ignoring things secure
and battling right out to its mouth
and clambering to the sea wall,
I raised my prow to the wind.
To elements raw and unrestrained
that in an instant
chilled to the marrow of my bone
and forced me!
back down to the harbour.
And there it was
where it had always been,
silent and stable on its stilts.
And as I contemplated
that moment
frozen in time -
the doors flung! wide! above the slipway.
I knew what courage was;
and that I
lived in a great place.
__________
© Cormac McCloskey
This poem was amended on 14th February 2011 / 2nd July 2011
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