Thames
This river teaches
Some of us to dream,
Each one claiming their right
To a few yards' isolation
Among the evening's thinning crowd,
To contemplate pilings disappearing
Into sand and tides lisping against
Stone causeways soft as skin,
With sunset all across the water
And St Paul's aflame behind.
This river draws some of us
Always to its edge,
To be nearer the dream of water
Than the weight of the land,
Far-flung as leaves,
Our arms out-held,
Urchins and river rats
Clutching tin swords and crowns,
We run into the wind, the wildness,
The blue.
