FATHER-IN-LAW While your widow clatters water into a kettle You lie in peace in your southern grave -- A sea captain who died at sea, almost. Lost voyager, what would you think of me, Husband of your fair daughter but impractical? You stare from the mantelpiece, a curious ghost In your peaked cap, as we sit down to tea. The bungalows still signal to the sea, Rain wanders the golf-course as in your day, The river still flows past the distillery. And a watery sun shines on Portballintrae. I think we would have a lot in common -- Alcohol and the love of one woman Certainly; but I failed the eyesight test When I tried for the Merchant Navy, And lapsed into this lyric lunacy. When you lost you balance like Li Po. They found unfinished poems in your sea-chest. -- Derek Mahon (born Belfast 1941)