with Naomi, 09/04/2014
A man with a very large camera
snapped our picture on Downhill Beach
during a week spent in a cottage outside Bushmills.
He said we’d wandered into his shot
yet we are in the centre of the frame, making
it a picture of us, and the intrusion his camera’s.
We are walking away, our backs to him,
the sun setting in front of us.
Our shadows stretch out long behind.
We are two darkened shapes blending,
at mid-distance, but it’s us. We know
it could be nobody else walking towards that sunset.
Here’s the thing: that moment
would have been a fine one for the world to end.
You could easily imagine the four horsemen
sweeping into the frame, and us
taking no great notice, accepting what will be,
wholly content for such a last moment.
This thought I have jokingly shared with you,
coaxing you to imagine that sky coming down,
dropping emphatically on us,
then one of those cinematic fades to black
where, if this were all a film,
the credits would start rolling down.
