Blue Hills 31

A barroom voice
recites something in German
about the Lorelei, then
Inchcape Rock . . . The Good Ship Venus . . .
and in reply hears the tale
of a man who bought a goat
instead of a refrigerator.
Outside, a gale makes it hard to enter channels
across the Port's and Kate Kearney's shallows;
some stand off for hours.
Inland, uprooted trees
sawn into moveable lengths
hedge the road; the wind,
a lunatic, grabs at the steering wheel.