Clipper Ships

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.