The Sailor Poem by Joseph White

Somewhere a sailor shuts out the sunrise
and speaks to himself,
'my dreams have come and gone, I cannot bear
another day without hope'
In the night he hides from the madman he as become
A lantern always burns, casting shadows
on the cabin walls that are friends and confidants
He laughs at the rain
and draws diamonds on the wet windows
He weeps at the loneliness of the sea as the mist pearls on his hair
He screams at the tide,
'don't look at me, don't look at me'
The ship he captains and once loved
is the cross he now bears
The ropes are coiled on deck in a ritual
he follows in trance
He looks at the wind blown water,
the white caps and dark swells
Standing on the rail, he hears the sea singing to him
beckoning him to join her
Leaning forward, he gradually falls into the cold sea
and slips under his watery mistress and succumbs
to her charms
His ship is found some time later with no clue as to
what happened to it's captain
A light swell slapped the side of the wooden craft
sitting in the harbor
Singing a song, heard only by old salts,
'diamond and pearls, diamonds and pearls'