Holed Below the Waterline

If it could have been with you
I’d sparkle like a sprinkled lawn –
the view from Mount Tabor – a Zambezi dawn –
I Should Have Known Better (the train scene) – a pawn
reaching c8, empowered, transformed –

but you said no, so I’m
holed below the waterline.

If it could have been with you
I’d Hannibal across the peaks –
launch a thousand shipshape Greeks –
win Wimbledon – become PM –
put England in a state of Zen –
purchase a chateau on the Loire –
sponsor our very own private choir
to hit the high notes just as we
leapt into bed –
but it wasn’t to be.

Instead, I’m
holed below the waterline.

If it could have been with you
our children’s children would recall
astonishing, fantastical
visits to grandparents who
were love’s top storyline come true.
As legacy they would possess
the legend of our happiness,
a myth to fascinate, inspire –
it seemed a reasonable desire.

But you said no.  Now I’m
holed below the waterline.

Mayday should signal one’s springing anew
into life’s whirligig hullabaloo –
not going under in lonely distress –

SOS SOS SOS SOS . . .

Tom Vaughan

If you have any thoughts on this poem,  Tom Vaughan  would be pleased to hear them.



from A Hard Day's Night (the train scene)