Night Boat

At some point in the calanques above Cassis

You were told by Mister Stevarius the Belgian Fire Eater

Fallen down the mountain the lights of the night boat to Corsica

Disappear the rock of Cassis, thrust out into the sea

That there would be a moment at which

The road to the temple of the sun threads its secret way

From the violent tongue of the third calanque to the rocky alcove

Where the cliff-climbers muscle their way up, unsupported

You would no longer hear

Everyone is talking loud

The schoolteacher from Aix is drunk

And the accountant from Switzerland

Calls the German a bastard for not sharing his coffee

There you are on the night boat, hungry

Fire on the surface of the water

Letters collecting in the groundswell

You will not hear

On the beach of sound, waves roam back to open sea

Close to the surface the sun’s setting pools orange

An opening of light in the sky

A stripe of rubble you’ve never seen before

Unfurl your hands to say: You will no longer here

The trees are rapt with silence

The burning bird settling in the rocks

Stand ever among the broken vowels:

You will no longer hour

The silent groundswell, the swell of silence.