We’re crossing the Mersey on the Dazzle Boat

aka MV Royal Daffodil. A breeze

is blowing from the river’s mouth. Sun lights

the Cunard Building like a palazzo.

We’re crossing to see the Giants from Nantes

on the Pier Head and at Mann Island,

along The Strand and in Canning Dock –

here by way of the Loire, Biscay Bay,

the North Atlantic and the Irish Sea.

We’re standing with tens of thousands of others –

a dense gathering by St George’s Dock Gates

of sardined and cheerful human beings –

watching the Giant Uncle, who is

four storeys high and has melancholy eyes,

walk – with the aid of gantries and pulleys

and costumed human counterweights – towards us

down Water Street to meet the Little Boy,

a thoughtful-looking black child, with his dog.

We’re crossing on the Royal Iris home.

Our bodies’ imaginations still tingle

with street theatre. Scores of Liverpool’s

serious windows are burnished gaily

by the sun setting over the sea.

Note: Royale De Luxe