White Dove

White dove over troubled waters, she flew into the morn
As sun surfaced over sails lit the wreckage of midnights storm.
A tiny dot upon the waves, shackled to a beam.
The condemned man has survived against all odds t’would seem.
And as Jacks battered face awakes, head held above the wave,
By the broken beams that held him bound held him as a knave.
God granted him, above the rest, for he saw no other signs of life
And that filthy captain who locked him here while he took his wife.

For Mable was a pretty thing and just barley seventeen
When they left their land for better things or that’s how it might have been.
But the captain offered finer things than a man like him could do
Who only had his hands and wit and hopes and big dreams too.
Fancy ways and fine clothes, a place at the captains table
Were things he could not offer yet, to that lovely Mabel.
So the captain sent the guards one night accusing him of treason
And sentenced him to hang on shore, there was no way to reason.

His wife of only a few weeks turned her face away
With eyes that sought the finery offered her that day.
But fate had shown a different hand as the storm blew down that night
And battered in the sails and mast and pounded them all right.
Death was the fate of all the crew who took part in that scheme
To rob a man of his dear wife, cheat him of his dream
Of living free on a new land in peace and prosperity
To have a wife who loved him dear and a family.

After a time his makeshift raft, which was his fate before
Floated peacefully to land upon a sandy distant shore.
A lovely maiden dark as night saw him as he staggered
Trying to stand on unsteady feet, all wet, and worn and haggard.
She called to her father, “He has come!” In a language he didn’t know
But the meaning soon was very clear as the later days would show.
It seems she dreamed of a fair man who would come to her land
She told her father, who was chief of this peaceful little band.

Her Mother told her she must wait until her love arrived
And if he made it to the land, and if he survived.
He would be welcomed into the band, would be accepted there
Would wed the daughter of the chief and live as the chiefs heir.
So Mable lays beneath the sea with her captains bones and gold.
And Jack he lived the life of ease, and in peace he grew old.
A few generations passed until those Ships came again
And they wondered at the blue eyes of the chief and his men.

Copyright © Krow Fischer | Year Posted 2009

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