Broad gravel barges shove the drift. Each wake
Thwacks the stone steps. A rearing tugboat streaked
Past moorhens dabbing floss, spun pinkish-beaked.
Peanuts in caramelised burnt chocolate bake
Through syrupy air. Above, fried onions cake.
Pigeons on steeleyed dates neck-wrestled, piqued,
Oblivious to their squabs that whined and squeaked
In iron-ringed nests, nursed in high struts. Opaque
Brown particles swarm churning through the tide.
That navy hoop of cormorant can compose
A counter to this shield – eagles splayed wide,
Gold martlets – on the bridge’s side; it glows
While through the eau-de-nil flaked arches slide
The boats ‘Bert Prior’ and ‘The Eleanor Rose’.