At the helm

engine humming underfoot.

There is on need of words.

The conversation is between

River and me.

 

Reeds do not bow in deference

but in greeting.

Silent but fluent

in sign language.

 

Weeping Willow waterfalls.

Branches reach out to touch.

Flowers shout their colours,

from frothy banks.

Huge leafed Rhubarb offers

parasols for the delicate.

 

Lilly pads in shallows,

twist, dance and sink;

a water ballet.

Woodwind music

with leaf tambourines.

Pan pipes for the ageless.

Beat of the heart.

Muted mortality whispers.

 
 

David Garlick, The Oxford canal, England, 1997

 

A “Cut” is canal jargon for a canal