eternal seaman
The eternal seaman
Coming from the sea, he stayed at a B/B hotel Churchill
near the railway station in Liverpool, a handy place for working women
to bring their customers, who would come home late
blaming overtime at the office.
At the hotel was the captain/lieutenant waiting for secondment,
he suspected the wait would take some time because the officer
had seen a blue angel In Hamburg,
The army officer was an expert on the railway system in Germany
why the army would like to know this in 1972
when they could buy a timetable, a leaflet that explained it all.
He, himself, was a seaman when tired of confinement on a ship
He paid off and spent his money in a small hotel, walking around
drinking beer and lunching at a Chinese café, usually a curry dish.
He was constrained by this lack of imagination.
Not that he was unsightly, women smiled at him
he smiled back
he walked on, not knowing what to do.
He had been a seaman all his life and never found his way home
his experience with women involved money, sex without any
emotional entanglement.
Nearing middle age, he, in the evening, drank with people who
meant nothing to him, like the deluded officer and his blue angel.
However, lately, he sensed dissatisfaction with his cozy life, like it
was ending or perhaps he would find his way back home.
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