by Ian C. Smith
He sails back through spent tears
Relentless in pursuit of clues
Consulting memory’s charts
To decipher the grief of years
Comparing his father’s life, his sons’
Across erratic seas, measuring
Passages between reefs
Waves smashed on deceptive coasts
From times then, echoes of ghosts.
Sometimes he yearns to go ashore
Trace his sins in greater detail
Pierce the shadows of crumbling villas
Glimpse pained faces, utter a prayer
As if they’d still be there.
He tacks past harbours quiet as lakes
Credits lucky navigation
Looks back even as the current pulls
Ever analysing mistakes
Hoping for what; redemption?
A kind of readiness at the wheel
Before plunging into the last gale
The accelerating descent
Future’s upended keel
When survival, the pain & the scars
Are swept away below distant stars.
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