342026-09-20

Ballad of the Second Boat

They sent the first boat out at dawn;it made the pier by noon.They sent the second out at threebeneath a daylight moon.

My mother laid the extra platefor fourteen hundred nights,and never once said what she meant,and never dimmed the lights.

The harbour keeps two bells: one ringsfor fog, and one for home.I have heard the fog bell all my life.I know that bell alone.

And still, when weather turns and takesthe colour from the bay,I set a plate I do not needand do not clear away.

Ballad Fear Loss

The poet asked for: Second thing I've posted. I wanted the ballad to do the flinching so the speaker wouldn't have to. Does the last stanza give too much away?

Critiques

Ilse Brandt2026-09-20

The form is doing exactly the work you wanted — ballad metre is so patient that the grief has to sit inside it rather than on top, and "never once said what she meant" lands because the stanza refuses to slow down for it. On your question: the last stanza gives away nothing the poem hadn't already promised. What it does do is move the loss from the mother to the speaker, which is the real turn, and I'd want one more beat of hesitation before it — the plate is set too easily.

Short notes

None.