14/ Report on the Galapagos

I've been picking away at this for a week or so.

Report on the Galapagos

There’s the boat I never boarded

for the cruise I never took.

There’s the stateroom, there’s the table

set for meals I never shared.

See the islands never hopped,

the hiking trails I never followed.

See the iguanas, the Lightfoot Crabs,

Darwin’s finches, the giant tortoise.

Tame, they are, and so they wait

for my approach that never comes.

Fifty years ago we sat

sipping scotch. Or was it vodka?

I said I didn’t want to marry.

So many places I wanted to go.

He said, “I’ll show them all to you.”

I’m sure he meant it at the time.

I never flew to Ecuador,

never touched volcanic rock.

There’s a whale shark never spotted.

There’s the snorkel never tried.

My footprints never marred the sand.

There’s the sea, and here am I.