28 JULY 2007, Page 19

A Kingfisher

Frequenting a corner of an eye, Like a thing one didn't really see, Its dodges reconcile me To the way you get undressed, Affording less than a glimpse!

As for the one apparent To our friend, eliciting Her outburst as it darted Close to the surface, I guess that stain on a backdrop Of river and trees, that flight I very nearly caught (but where Was one supposed to look?) Was lost for good. And then, There went the streak of it — Sooner gone than seen.

Was it, was it — what?

Sapphire? Emblem of all Snatches: sought like the dream One forgets even as one wakes from it.

Anthony Howell