Reflections
Reflection on Candlelight
Before me does a flicker burn
Slow, casting shadows forth
And I think of how such little light
Does light an entire rooms worth
For not a bulb nor lamp do I turn
Nor've I any aid to help my sight
Just a small, gentle flame
Which hides me from the winters night
So small within it's subtle urn
Bright has it burned since it's handed birth
How wild you are, yet I have have tamed you...
From fire who knows what we can learn
The fire plays no games
Nor does it tell any lies
And it's honesty would kill you first
Yet so easily can you snuff out it's life
Reflections on the Setting Sun
I stand and stare to the distance
Reflecting an ancient, fiery sunset
Beset am I with grief entranced
For a lost love must I soon forget
Died not did she, nor have to move away
She left me far behind and walked away
She chose not what I had to give
My soul my mind my heart
Without her I can not live
I exist not as a whole, but merely a part
A shadow of my former self
Overwhelmed by the cards I am dealt
I slip away into the softness of night
I've lost my will, I've lost the fight
Reflections on a winter sea
As I walk upon empty hardened sand
And white waves crash at my feet
I gaze out to the far-off lighthouse
And out in to a wintry sea
The darkening chill of January
Has over this world cast it's white hand
Sending a snowy wintry chill
Over all the land
But over the water these storms mean more
To the mariners who ride the waves
And long to merely return to shore
And from the sea-life never escape.
I knew a man, a sailor, he,
Who didn't feel at home on ground
"My only home is the wide blue sea
The cry of a gulls my favorite sound
I've been to dark lands far away
I've been up both the coasts
But if I had my choice, my son
I'd never leave my boat"
That hardened, callous man spoke truth
One day he just sailed away
He took his ship without a crew
He just up and left one day
So as I gaze out on the sea
And I hear the seagulls cry
I see the winter chilled ocean,
The cold water where my father died
.
I stand up off the dune
Wipe the loose sand off my pants
Continue walking down the stretch
My shoes making tiny dents in the sand
I walk up to the jetty
Jutting jagged in the waves
A stark white light house stands
Ghost-like as the sun fades
On rocks stands an ancient 'farer
Staring out to the distance, piping
I walk out to him, and place my hand his shoulder
He turns and sees me, smiling.
"I see a boy I knew in the man before me
His father was a brilliant man of the sea
I turn to look out to the East
He takes a puff, "I'm sorry.
A better man I never knew
His heart was rich as gold"
"Then why did he leave so fast?" I say.
"Were you never told?"
We step inside his humble home
Housed beneath the tower
Sat I in one crude wooden chair
Untouched by the hours
He sat in the other chair
Across a small carved table
A cup of coffee placed he down
For both of us. He sat so still
"After your mother died
He knew not where to go
He did not know just how to deal
With a house that' wasn't a home
So after searching far and wide
For what would fill his soul
He knew that the sea
Was where he had to be
The are some that say a sailor
Knows his time to die
Your father knew that
He would take his final ride.
The news said that a storm was near
So he stocked up the boat
It'd been so long since it'd been used
I was shocked the thing would float.
That morning the sun shone scarlet
More red than fresh spilt blood
"A storm is rollin' in," I said
"Aye, my house'll flood..."
His voice trailed off and silent we
Stood upon the rocks and stones
He turned and left me there alone
As the seven bells toned and droned
Last saw I, he was sailing out
Right into the eye.
Now three weeks gone, that man is
One with sea and sky."
I shook the old mans hand
I opened up the door
The winter wind was there to greet me
And the salt air in even score
That beach walked I
To where I began
My feet again
Left marks in the sand
When something caught my eye in the sun
I ran to find out what it was
A board of darkened wood saw I
I picked it up and dropped my gloves
"Marian" clearly writ upon it's grain
God Help Me! I know that name
My mother's first, of Burns' Scot coat
And so as well, my fathers boat.
As I walk upon empty hardened sand
And the white waves crash at my feet
I gaze out to a far-off lighthouse
And out into a wintry sea
The darkening chill of January
3-6-96
This way to the Throne Room