Monthly Archives: Jan 2021

A voice called my name. It was my childhood friend Franz. He invited me up to his rather cramped artist’s studio. For a small fee he would do my portrait. I agreed and he retrieved a large board with a hole through which I should place my head. I could not stop laughing when I realised it would depict me dressed as a cavalier.

The harbour’s lights are shining

to guide the sailors home

The lover’s hearts are pining

while sons and lovers roam.

Come the grey dawn the sun will rise

and winds blow from offshore,

the fleet will sail in on the tide,

safe in their homes once more.

Through freezing wind and stinging hail

the deckhands in their jackets blue.

The Captain, mate and boatswain too

watch rain-lashed sailors fighting sails

as they dance in the Arctic gale.

Clouds clear as the night grows dimmer,

frost on canvas starts to shimmer

the ship now settles on her course

on passage to the frozen North,

following the pale moon’s glimmer.

I noticed how in stark contrast

to all I thought I ever knew

about the proper thing to do

when one finds they will soon be asked

to pin their colours to the mast

and openly declare intent

to stand up for the government

in firm belief our lives may change

after they introduce the range

of vaccines for our safety meant

The tower stands in dark of night

guiding the sailor by its light

and when the shroud of fog comes down

ears are strained to the mournful sound

of the deep-throated siren’s blast

ensuring vessels may safely pass

A scientist’s child,

shocked, we watch their virus grow

world in harmony