Here is a poem from Andy Jukes’ latest collection “Pan’s Footprints.”
Sabrina’s Lessons
(“Sabrina” is the old name for the River Severn.)
Since I was a boy,
I have loved to take my kayak
Upon the green waters of the Severn.
Taught to paddle as a Boy Scout
In brittle fibreglass, heavy with patches,
Legs red, raw, and itching from the roughness of boat’s belly.
Fingers blue, numb, and blistered from gripping paddle too tightly.
We put on at Dale End Park
And paddle down to Jackfield.
A string of bobbing ducklings
Cheerfully ignorant of dangers.
Not far – a couple of miles –
Long enough to practise rescue drills,
What to do in event of a capsize.
Long enough to begin to learn a few important lessons:
Surround yourself with good friends,
People who you trust and who trust you.
Happy to put your lives in each other’s hands.
With luck, most of your days will be high jinks, jokes, and laughter,
But a time will come, for each in turn, when,
An error of judgement leaves you needing
To be plucked from icy waters.
Paddle alone and you will drown.
Find friends who would die to save you.
Be prepared to die to save them.
Down at Jackfield, in the eddy below the rapids,
I watched as one of our fathers,
A huge, powerful man,
Squeezed his muscled bulk
Into a wobbling kayak’s cockpit.
Saw the terror in his eyes as he realised
that he had entered a wholly different world –
The power in his arms sucked away by instability.
The harder he pulled
The less progress he made.
Turning and turning in defeated circles,
I saw fear overwhelm a man that I had feared.
When, suddenly, your life is turned upside down,
As, sooner or later, it will be,
When you find yourself in a world you do not know or understand,
Drained of all your powers,
Try not to panic or let fear overwhelm you.
Take a deep breath and wait.
Wait until the water calms around you,
Until you are sure of the direction to take,
Then, find your balance,
Let your body remember
Movements that you have practised
Time, after Time, after Time.
Give thanks to your teachers
And roll.
The river is everchanging.
One day you will be pulling your canoe through shallow waters
Scratching its hull on the rocks of drought.
Another, you will be flying on the wings of flood.
Her waters are deep and treacherous
Dangers lie hidden beneath.
Learn to read her face for signs of them.
Accept that they will find you anyway.
One day you will feel the weight
Of a friend’s coffin upon your shoulder.
Bear it as someday someone will bear yours.
wolf words and crow speak 