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Clipper Ships

My mother; she wasn’t there any more
Burned away in chemo radiology
Therapy for the incurable
As she lingered for a year
Lobotomized by cancer

But in her dreams she sailed her clipper ships
Sailed away on the mighty Cutty Sark
Indomitable spirit she was
Swayed by the poetry of canvas sails
A sea gull riding to the rigging

Until the coma took her
And us to a three-day hell
As we patiently watched her
Slowly inexorably fade away
Every last breath counted in longer minutes

But she stood bare foot on the deck
The salt washed planking oak wind swept
Beneath the great white wings blown the prow
Her heart pushed aboard the clipper ship
She sailed the proud sea the pride of her fleet

And every last breath in longer and longer minutes
She reached at last the very last
No goodbye, no farewell, just a soft emptying sigh
As at last; she escaped
Leaving us alone in the deathly silent room

Gone

Aye my lads ! She’s a fine grand ship
My mother said
My brothers and I stood gawping on the dock

The finest clipper of the fleet the mighty Cutty Sark
The great masts from which to hang your dreams
And ride the plumes of briny waves
She’s a thousand books of sailor’s tales
With rigging made from the strings of Neptune’s harp 
She can sail from one edge of eternity to the next

In crematorium puffs of smoke
And now just ash
White wing gull she rides the slipstream still
Still; she sails her clipper ships 
 



 
While on holiday in St Austell on the Cornwall coast of England, we saw a great sail ship
cutting through the rough seas. I remember my Mothers eyes were shinning and streaming,
her face a picture of rapture. Later that year she took us all to see The Cutty Sark. A
grand old Clipper dry docked at Greenwich London. I have never seen anyone so enthralled
and enraptured as she was, as we all stood on the deck. From then on paintings and models
of great sail ships frequented every wall and corner of our home. Paintings and photo's of
The Cutty Sark can be found on Google. Take a look sometime if you like, and you'll see
why she fell in love.
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