High Tide Returns

High Tide Returns Once he sailed the fast Clipper of his heart A mariner over blessed waves Once on a fathom sea of womanhood He drew water To each compass point in her eyes His sails were prayers Laid in every pale crest and trough The wind an alter Where he stowed every breath and thought of love The sea and canvass he was As he sailed the schooner of his heart At high tide And pulled by the rolling breakers And lured by the soft gentle sands For The Sirens song He braved the ragged teeth of the waters Came to where the masts and rigging Seduced his ship beaching On easy and conciliate sands The keel of his soul ran aground Marooned now amidst angry rocks Winter storms consuming the dunes Of love Stuck fast the once kissing prow Trapped to scavenge the wrecks of hearts High tide is an echo Has not returned yet To slip the schooner from the drifts A beachcomber to weather the blizzard Waiting for the days to be warmer This icy wind must someday cease in its bite Hidden behind his tiny fire light The sea she has bought him the driftwood of love To warm the desolate nights He can hear the new surf calling Telling of gentler deeps ahead Soon the heavy keel shall lift from this subtle trap Then the moon may grant him high flood And rest the rudder from her hands Turn from the compass of her eyes Set sails to another To where an ocean resides Even now he can hear her calling Within the waves and the crests of this shore Already the canvas is dreaming Of catching another wind and billowing So his heart will guide them once more Say no farewell to these rocks and these crags Where she bid him suck on these barnacled reefs before He will not miss the soft gentle sands He never had And to this sad and cold beech Where she once led his ship Shall return never more