The Seal in My Rucksack
I put it in my rucksack.
The seal I saw swimming
in the River Thames.
I wouldn’t have believed
if other people
hadn’t seen it too.
I put it in my rucksack.
The shine of the evening light
on its eager head
coming towards me,
I swear it was looking
at me only.
I put it in my rucksack.
The way it flipped
and slipped into the water,
a flicker of silver,
tail fin replacing its face
waving farewell.
The lady next to me
got a video.
I wish I’d had a phone
to record it on
but I put the memory
in my rucksack for later.
I keep it in my rucksack
and take a peek
if I’m fed up or need a break.
It tumbles over itself
and I’m amazed and happy
all over again.
The seal I saw swimming
in the River Thames.
I wouldn’t have believed
if other people
hadn’t seen it too.
I put it in my rucksack.
The shine of the evening light
on its eager head
coming towards me,
I swear it was looking
at me only.
I put it in my rucksack.
The way it flipped
and slipped into the water,
a flicker of silver,
tail fin replacing its face
waving farewell.
The lady next to me
got a video.
I wish I’d had a phone
to record it on
but I put the memory
in my rucksack for later.
I keep it in my rucksack
and take a peek
if I’m fed up or need a break.
It tumbles over itself
and I’m amazed and happy
all over again.
This poem is copyright (©) Lorraine Mariner 2024
About the Writer
Lorraine Mariner
Lorraine is a librarian at the National Poetry Library, London, where she loves working with the children’s poetry collection. She has had children’s and YA poems published in Dragons of the Prime, an anthology of dinosaur poems from The Emma Press (2019) and in the magazines Tyger Tyger and Paper Lanterns. She’s also had poems shortlisted and commended in the YorkMix Children’s Poetry Competition in 2019 and 2021.
