at the end of highlandtown, 
rows of formstone houses 
line o'donnell street,where 
the harbour meets the lighthouse 
at the old shipyard 

abandoned factories surround- 
gray windows, smokeless chimneys, 
and ghosts of fishermen in cotton caps 
with smiling wives 
and wayward eyes 

the water is no longer blue; 
the ducks have left the point 
everything is brown and old 
and solemn in the falling rain 

there was a day when fishing boats 
were full of sunny families 
on saturdays 
with sandwiches 
and bluefish 
hooked on fishing lines for photographs 

the shipyard lies like a skeleton, now 
its only guests are silhouettes 
of fishermen in cotton caps 
and shadowed sails 
on the still brown water 

(c) Cynthia D'Adamo