page 176

A Drowning

The newspaper bills this morning
Carry the story I heard on the radio.
It's one for economy. Father drowns
Saving son. What agonies are there.

My thought runs from the beach,
Its treacherous mud, to my two boys.
It could happen to me. And I'd will it,
Given a choice to make between us.

And now I start to wonder—what if
The world's most celebrated son
Had been saved? If his calls—heard—
Could be answered? What then?

Would rescuing the man destroy
The father? If some unnatural power
Swept all aside, channelling a tide
Of love his way, there'd be no cross.

What would remain? What would be
Visible where the thorned head
Had been? The reflecting surface, waves
Rising, falling. Where the father was.