SHIP

Let go your hands from the wheel of the ship,

and check out the mysteries that life may let slip.

No tiller to guide you, alone and adrift,

along comes a mermaid to give you a lift.

She said,

"Sit back and relax as you're towed out to sea.

In a dream I was told you were coming to me.

I have come-to beside you, all my life now it seems.

You're always my rescue while away in my dreams."

He said,

"Of beauty thou art, making two parts of me.

I feel that I know you but just who can you be?

Like one who is missing, long ago been set free.

I can see in my dreams but I've not yet seen thee."

She said,

"I start in your future, you end in my past.

It's not the first time I've sighted your mast.

You didn't know me, when the die was cast.

And if you don't know me, this must be my last.

He said,

"Now what is this ending, you so worry about.

That wasn't a whisper, but a very quiet shout.

I don't even know you and you're going away.

I have this vast hollow, I now feel, you hold sway."

She said,

Gently caressing my face, "Such a beautiful heart,

mine stood no chance, even back at the start.

But this is no ending, just a very small part,

too small of an island to be put on your chart."

He said,

as she sags in his arms,

"Who are you my dear, what about my dreams?"

With her last breath, "I AM your dreams...."

April 7, 1993