Skyward looking the grey rain on my face, Carole Webster

Across the mud
beyond the skein worsted
green grey Colne
water unravelling with the tide turning.

A woman, she is
on the Rowhedge side
in the foreground to the Anchor
she dithers in slow moth motion on on the bank.

The woman wears
a signal red hat (stop)
a cobalt raincoat
she carries a green bag (go).

Soon she is waiting
by that dead wooden bench as though
for a boat
to take her home.

I stand
opposite I
wait coldly on the edge of the
incoming rain,

catching the sail
of cloud along
the Roman River
boat-wise; rowing, then

lying on the damp
planks
skyward looking, the grey
rain on my face. When I walk

home I face the Anchor
I am wearing a green hat (go) and I
carry a signal red bag (stop),
it is a day for mixed reflection.