John S Batts
A Dialogue over the Decades
For JIMMY SUTER (1937-1960)
I recall that shy young boy, a bright lad in school
A scholarship fellow and nobody’s fool.
‘We lost him you know.’
Soft-spoken when we were brash and rowdy
He left high school, accountancy to serve.
‘We’ve lost him you know.’
Jimmy never wished to stand out in a crowd
Neat in appearance, freckled, un-tousled hair.
‘We have lost him you know.’
He loved a coastal stroll, as Sydney-siders do
Bondi’s cliff-walk lured a younger crew.
‘We still like that now.’
The sea’s an attraction when white-caps rear.
On the night in question were others near?
‘We shall never know.’
There’s much that dies when the waters are high
Not plastics, but kelp, seagrasses, cunjevoi.
‘We’ve lost so much you know’
Was there a shout, a cry, or a shove?
Might he have struggled in that threatening tide?
‘He was pushed, you know.’