A Fragment
(About 1970)
The first part of this verse is missing - torn off! I think it relates to my time in and around Aberdeen.
…I
Went down to the sea tonight,
The still sea and the trawlers.
The men below with the lights
And a friendly forecast on the Third,
To cast away while I'm in bed and fish the sea for fishes
And queenies (they're small clams)
And prawns (they're rare right now),
All tidy and functional and, well, shipshape!
Shipshape,
Sort of blunt-rounded front and blunter rounded-er back
And ropes and rigging and aerials on the cabin
And winches
And, did you know, a basket which they fly from a yard
When the nets are down to warn other nearby boats?
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