He felt brave, capable and full of duty
He went out with the rest of them and scoured the high grass
And the tide-step and low sandy grass
He saw how early morning on the river had its beauty
They spread out in a loose crescent form
Each man could hear the other’s high rubber boots
Squeak like rats where the floppy boots
Twitched the tall common reeds lightly and moved on
Wading birds woke up in a gust of running
Out of the way of the new monstrous movement too near
And he didn’t any longer want to be near
The water, grasses, birds, or whatever was coming
No one stumbled on anything, they all went home
She wasn’t found that day or any day that ordinary summer
Of small cold rain showers and wet sun, a summer
That had its useless beauty, hard and bright as bone.
