INCIDENT AT BULL BAY

At high water a small, blue-hulled trawler heads

at speed, seemingly navigating by sight

not charts, for the narrow inlet, where

two women are paddle-boarding.

Whoever is on watch spots the women

and the boat turns hard to port, and back

to the open sea. A century has passed

since the gradually sloping shingle beach,

with deep water at high tide, made this cove

ideal for inshore fishing boats. Curious

that the blue trawler – out of Cardigan,

according to its registration code,

many sea miles and promontories

to the south – should have been heading

directly here, and with such certainty,

as if for harbour. The paddle boarders –

a mother and daughter perhaps – have disembarked,

from this avatar of an ancient craft,

as gracefully as they can, apparently

oblivious of what might have happened.