mastercraftsman

Thought I'd post a poem I wrote just before giving up commercial fishing....
THE MIDWATCH
Bathed in a humming, blood red glow
Are my eerie footsteps, metallic and slow
Echoing softly, up the starboard ladder
This nightly post has never been sadder
Voices in the dark: "You're early" "I know"
Troublesome dreams, idle chatter
We trade a lie for a lie, a truth for a truth
As he slips below, I start to wonder
Do I really matter

The Arctic heavens make this vessel mundane
No longer so gallant, so daring or vain
Just a tiny boat in the icy beauty
But she's romantically eager, tempermental, and moody
The crew below sleeps away pain
The holds and our hearts lacking booty
Even when they're full we complain
With nothing gained, I start to wonder
About honor, and duty

I imagine a lookout, on my mind's horizon
Out on the edge, and looking in
At a wayward soul, all alone on the sea
Who feels indentured, but ultimately free
An anarchist, wearily risen
For this midnight interlude
With an archaic tradition
My destiny adrift, I start to wonder
What else can I be

My eyes grow callous from staring through a lense
And always looking for a means to my ends
They cloud up with grief and blink away tears
Searching for something, for so many years
The darkness is harsh, and tears no longer cleanse
Even in calm seas my storm never ends
As a ship appears, I start to wonder
How to conquer my fears

Ships in the ice are like people I know
Passing and searching, no sentiments show
So distantly cold without one another
Ye each so complex we're about to smother
Like a girlfriend from years ago
When I was a cigarette, stubbed out for another
Relentless thoughts trickle, like a nosebleed's flow
I start to wonder
What happened to my mother

Full of patience, my senses deprived
Shocking to think one can even survive
An entire hour, sans a thought, or a doubt
At last the captain's here, ten minutes to five
He's solemn, awake and devout
A welcome relief, someone else can drive
Cause I'll get where I'm going, whatever the route
Got to quit longing for that damsel to arrive
But I start to wonder
What love is all about

Later...