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The Letter         

A young man strolled along the waterfront,
His mind and heart at ease.
Said an old man, sitting on an upturned punt,
Gazing out towards the sea. 

“Come sit by me and lend your ear,
For I’ve a tale to tell.
My days are numbered now I fear,
As I do not feel so well.”

The young man took the proffered seat
And gazed at the old mans face.
The lines and creases in that midday heat
Were like the knit of a delicate lace.

“When first the plough shears tilled this earth,
With the hope of a hearty crop.
A young boys’ school was a hard days work,
Where he’d learn to tend the flock.

With an axe in hand he’d fell a tree
Then strip it of it’s bark.
He’d ride a horse to track a beast
And not be home by dark.

I stood there in my fathers stead,
At the age of just twelve years.
My father, from the war lay dead,
He and his many peers.

Driving bullock teams was the only way
I knew to earn an honest quid.
I‘d swear and cuss and walk all day
To passers by I’d tip me lid.

Drought and flood, bush fires and rain,
The years they passed me by.
Then in the little town of Mayne,
A fair hair’d lady caught me eye.

From Scotland she came with accent broad.
She was new to this promised land.
Out on a station, teaching kids for board,
Her life was not as she’d planned”.


The young man muttered ”Sir I beg your leave.”
And stood,   as if to go.
An old hand lifted and caught his sleeve,
With a movement feeble and slow.

 “Please my lad this wont take long,
Would you humour a dying man.
My body is weak but my mind is strong.
Wont you bear as much as you can.”

The young man took his seat once more
And listened in earnest now.
This old man needs me here he thought
All else will wait somehow.

“Where was I now, Oh yeah that’s right
She was such a sweet young thing.
Her smile, forever shining bright
With a voice, that taught the birds to sing.

Our hearts were melted and moulded,
As one they will forever be.
Each others troubles we shouldered,
And our happiness kept us free.

But the good Lord took her from me.
Her and our unborn child.
I joined the navy, the world to see
And sailed the oceans wild.

To a hungry shark I lost me leg,
When our freighter hit some rocks.
Since those days I’ve had this peg,
But I get twice the wear from me socks”.

The young man couldn’t help but grin
At the humour in the old mans voice.
Earlier, he had to sit with him,
Now he would do so by choice.

“Life is full of twists and turns.” he said.
“Flat roads and deep crevasses.
One day you think you're here to learn.
The next, you don't know where your ass is.

My mates had ladies in every port
For that's what sailors do.
Drink the ale in a wharfies pub
And call a girlfriend or two.

But those doings were not my scene.
I met a lady in Sydney town,
Now, I regret what might have been.
For my seafaring ways let her down.

That must be nigh on twenty years,
My letters have all been returned.
I suspect I caused her many tears
And this, loneliness I've earned.

They say when I left, she was with child.
And that's when she moved away.
Maybe that's true or maybe they lied.
But there's not much else to say.”

The old man looked out across the bay
And gestured with his bony hand.
At a new freighter leaving the slipway.
To the music of a big brass band.

“As that ship leaves, to start it's new life,
 I fear mine has come to an end.
This final letter I wrote last night,
To my love, I did want to send.

Please pass it on, but write deceased.
Before you place it in the mail.
It's been in my pocket so it's creased,
Now my ship is about to sail.”

The young man took the crumpled letter,
As the old man closed his eyes.
He had to squint to see it better,
The name and address that brought no replies.

The reason fate brought him here today,
For this alone, there was no other.
To listen to what this old man had to say,
And deliver this letter to his Mother.
________
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