You need to see every other stanza here as italicised which we can't do in
text.
STOLEN TIME
Trying to give attention to the Canada geese
on the mudflats of the estuary, I saw them.
You could tell by the way they stood
that the meeting was clandestine.
The geese were one large group who honked
sweet music to each other in the persistent drizzle.
Something had just happened strong enough
to stir the extremes of their emotions.
Tide out, the contours of the river were bared,
so I walked to a more private spot to look.
You could tell by her expression, how she looked
away from him, their meeting had been troubled.
Among the grounded boats there was a movement
enough to cause alarm and a cautious flutter away.
The way he stood, legs apart, hands held low,
extended - the posture - pleading without words.
Drift from the last night's flood strewn below,
imitating the water flow, lay where it landed.
We must fill in a supposed dialogue ourselves,
the narrative of reasons they were there.
I noticed by my watch that it was time to return
though instead stole another minute there
under the canopy of the old railway station,
no longer host to greetings and partings.
bw
James
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