Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love
Landing at Port aux Basques
“He was faithful and daft to me”
-as Marc Antony did not say
We were approaching Newfoundland aboard the old Caribou
I climbed up on deck in the icy, clear dawn
A mysterious woman in a Burberry coat
Smoked cigarettes in the lee of a ventilator
(and ignored me)
In the cold I surveyed the brown and white coast
And reported back to Dan that there was snow ashore
“You’re daft,” he replied, “those are just little houses.”
But there was snow indeed on Port aux Basques
We rattled Dan’s CRV up Highway 1
(driving around a dead moose in the road)
On daft adventures all the way to Saint John’s
Dan is the only one who has ever called me daft; indeed, except in the movies I have never heard anyone else use the term.