On the surface of the bay air quivers like a
fish about to jump. On my pillow old tales &
journeys, full of quiet despair. I hear you
speaking and I hold your head so carefully,
afraid how close you come. In my dream I hear
you walking on the sleepless wharf, a bright
fish hooked by the tiny sounds that night
makes in the water. In your step there is
some sureness of direction and some lightness
that is quite beyond the world that we inhabit.
The wharf that makes the bridge joins you
wholly to some other place. In it I do not occur.
Kate Lilley is a contemporary Australian poet and academic.
