Ghosts - The Old Salt Poem by Paul Warren

As I was wandering along the lonely the beach
It was a wintry day with no-one to meet
The tide was on the turn at the water's edge
I looked out across the bay at the sun's last pledge

An an salty sea man appeared standing to my left
Sucking on his pipe and leaving me quite bereft
Then he started to speak and I paid heed straight away
'The sea is a wonder don't you think to say? '

'You know I sailed the sea for nigh on fifty years
Fought the Japanese and even built their railway of tears'
I could feel the melancholy as he spoke these words
As the seagulls spun around in the sky wheeling absurd

We stood and spoke as the sun slowly went down
Until the darkness held sway and the jetty lights were found
In the end he said he had to get on home
The fireplace needed stoked and the firewood found

I watched him walk off in the darkness of the night
And I made my way back to the hotel room tight
I slept well that night dreaming of ships and men
Who went down to the sea for democracy to defend

The next day over an English breakfast we heartily ate
I spoke of the old captain I met the previous day late
The old innkeeper stopped eating and looked at me
'The old man had died ten years before walking near the sea.

© Paul Warren Poetry