The Wild Wild Sea

I saw it again this evening,

Black sail in a pale yellow sky

And just as before in a moment,

It was gone where the grey gulls fly



If it should happen again I shall worry

That only a strange ship could fly

And my sanity scans the horizon

In the light of a darkening sky



That night as I walked in my slumber

I walked into the sea strand

And I swam with the moon and her lover

Until I lost sight of the land



I swam till the night became morning

Black sea in the reddening sky

Found myself on the deck on a rolling ship

So far where no grey gulls fly



All around me was silence

As if mocking my frail human hopes

And a question mark hung in the canvas

For the wind that had died in the ropes



I may have slept for an hour

I may have slept for a day

For a woke in a bed of white linen

And the sky was the colour of clay



At first just a rustle of canvas

And the gentlest breath on my face

But a galloping line of white horses

Said that soon we were in for a race



The gentle sigh turned to a howling

And the grey sky she angered to black

And my anxious eyes searched the horizon

With the gathering sea at my back



Did I see the shade of a sailor

On the bridge through the wheelhouse pane

Held fast to the wheel of the rocking ship

As I squinted my eyes in the rain



For the ship had turned into the wind

Against the storm to brace

And underneath the sailor's hat

I saw my father's face



If a prayer today is spoken

Please offer it for me

When the bridge to heaven is broken

And you've lost on the wild wild sea

Lost on the wild wild sea...