THE hot and battered boat

in Mandraki harbour

tugs at its ropes:

each passing ship

a reminder it has to be away.

Water reflections

dart across its salt-baked hull.

At last, the sun sinks behind

the old walled city of Rhodes.

Black-toothed crenellations

painted in oranges and pinks

from the beginner's palette.

As the engines wake

the boat trembles with anticipation.

It turns its back on Rhodes

and points the painted eye

towards dark, foam-topped seas

to myth and legend

and the land of dolphins.

It casts away

freshly-peeled visitors,

postcards and souvenir stalls.

Mandraki fades to a glow

and up on deck the men start to

call out to each other and tell jokes.

Updated: 15:03 Wednesday, June 04, 2003