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Wednesday 28 February 2024

Temeraire

Horizon, sunset on the horizon

Light scattered falling from the sky

Reflections, ships on the water

Shorelines, cityscapes; fade, fade away


Orange, yellow, ochre, rust, blue

Flames flare from her chimney

As she tugs the majestic sailing ship

Underneath a sky with sun, with moon


Did he ponder on the galley

Wondering why not a soul in sight

Could the sea have been so many colours

Would that the imagination beamed so bright


From across the oceans, sailors gather

Line the decks as they reach the shore

Yesterday was flags and bunting

Today is calm, good men quietly go


Storm clouds behind the night

Bring brightness to the fore

Light, a likeness to your image

Your sun drenched early evening sky


Mandolin wind, you have the weight

Strings whispering, you are so so nearly being

Drum skins smoothed, brushstrokes wavered

The bass guitar plays, you gently weep, you cry


Promenader's right behind you

Waiting, watching your vision unfold

Your story you gave us on the canvas

Eight score years or more ago


Reds, greys, silvers, whites, golds

The flickering flag atop the mast

Ropes, rigging tidier than nature

Close up close I spy a crew


A sea of two-tone reflections

Mirror sun, mirror moon

Painting thousands of projections

For the nation to consume


Did you say you were going nowhere

No more the sea to be a roving

The last voyage has been taken

The last journey gone


We should have seen the sadness

The colour was without your joy

The smokestack racks our guilt

Cracks upon, our mistaken preconceptions