1.
Viewed from the decking

above, your best

friend’s pool holds the afternoon

as a wobbly electricity. 
At the edge: puddles

of deflated colour,

white plastic chairs,

a garden, other redundancies. 
2. 
Far below the workings of sun,

the surface-war

of kick and churn,

beyond the naked decibels,  
there

time goes strange – 
never more alone to yourself,

as you drift

in the company

of a vast slow-thumping heart. 
3. 
After the reign of traffic

and parents,

when night cools the water

to an ideal skin, 
the only sound’s the tink-

tink-tinkle

of silver drops from a hand

lifted to place

a stroke.  
And we’re careful

with our voices

so the moon won’t overhear.