© Copyright 2026 - Peter PHIR! Row, row, the boat is full Row, row, the water pulls Row, row, your hands are small Row anyway Mama packed a loaf and two dried fish Wrapped in cloth she'd boiled twice clean Said *son the world will ask you more than this* She didn't say what more could mean I watched Declan drown at twenty-three Government diver pulled him to the shore Official said the current caught his feet We buried him and didn't say no more You want signs you want proof you want the thunder to speak You want a document stamped You want a still on the peak But the wind don't file a motion And the sea don't hold a meeting And the thing that keeps you floating is smaller than your reason for retreating The water don't ask if you believe It just rises The water don't ask if your hands can hold It just - rises We were out there Wednesday, nothing, grey Captain said row We rowed anyway Captain said *why are you frightened* We had no good reply The water don't ask It just rises Auntie Vera worked the sorting line Thirty-one years, the same machine She said *I trust the belt will run on time* I said *that's not what trusting means* She looked at me the way the old look at the young When the young have swallowed more than they have chewed She turned back to her work and held her tongue And I stood in that silence like a fool The water don't ask if you believe It just rises The water don't ask if your hands can hold It just - rises We were out there Wednesday, nothing, grey Captain said row We rowed anyway Captain said *why are you frightened* We had no good reply The water don't ask It just rises A mustard seed don't know it's small It don't sit in the dirt explaining itself It don't write its name on the wall Or send for help Declan used to say *I'm not afraid of depth, I'm afraid of the middle* Where you can't see bottom and you can't see shore Just the grey of the here and the grey of the before We say: *Lord the storm* We say: *Lord the boat* We say: *Lord we asked you once and we're hoarse in the throat* And the answer that comes back don't come back in words It comes back in the slight easing of the current Row Row The boat is full Row anyway The water don't ask if you believe It just rises The water don't ask if your hands can hold It just - rises We were out there Wednesday, nothing, grey Captain said row We rowed anyway Captain said *why are you frightened* We had no good reply The water don't ask The water don't ask The water don't ask It just rises © Copyright 2026 - Peter PHIR!
