I
Ladies, tussling through
evening colours, double-took:
Looking up the welder
missed the last ring
sliding down the blue flame

of his oxy-acetylene blade:
In the estuary the small boy
spearing flat-fish almost lost his foot.
The watchman thought
he'd better call the king,

who was mulling over the news
which he'd already got,
though his wise-man's dream
prophesying 'encroachment
from the sea' had lied:

As the day went by
they saw that the black marks
...