Blue

The day’s shadows grew

As I walked upon the shore;

They framed the deepest blue

Ocean there before.

The blue sea’s waves

Were alight with orange fire

As my soul craves

You, my heart’s desire.

Here we were, so many years ago—

Our ship was sinking, sinking in the brine

Hurtling for the dark blue depths below,

Where little light can ever shine.

My crew had left me,

Finding my true name--

Women on the sea

Will make a ship go lame.

I had been their captain!

What comes of being female?

But they could not know then

How their hearts would fail.

You alone knew,

For you alone I trusted.

In your eyes of deepest blue

My doubts all went and rusted.

How could I not have told you?

You were my first mate—

And after all our talks, it’s true,

The revelation could not wait.

Those long speeches in my cabin

Were all that kept me going along.

Your blue eyes would always win

My heart into a better song.

When my crew was sleeping,

The orange sunset well behind

I saw you there, watch-keeping

The dangers for you to find.

But dangers do not always travel

From the sea we roam;

Into your blue eyes I fell

As driftwood in the briny foam.

Alone that night, it all came out—

The words unspoken for too long.

O, I always wished to shout

How you wrote my heart’s song!

Drowning in a strong embrace,

We did not see the crewman,

We did not see his face

His shock at mate and captain.

Loyalty is like the waves—

In and out, it ebbs and flows,

Filling and unfilling caves

Where the sea-anenome grows.

So went the loyalty of crew,

And so I was imprisoned.

So your blue eyes knew

The fate for which we were destined.

Hands clasped through bars of cell,

Hearts together, breathing as one

We prepared ourselves for the hell

That had only just begun.

Long they kept us there, interred,

As the crewmen argued fast—

Every single hateful word

Drew us closer to our last.

All their bickering did not see

The threat approaching on the water.

Without me, they could never be

Safe from being cannon fodder.

The pirates took them by surprise;

Sadly we watched them fade away.

It is a mighty ship that dies

When its crew is kept at bay.

Fast my crew surrendered to them,

Giving up the good life I’d given.

My heart sang a lonely anthem,

Seeing them so driven.

And what of captain and her mate,

Rotting in the stinking hold?

My crew just couldn’t wait

To sink it—they were bold.

So, the pirates got their lives,

But not my shining ship.

A captain always strives

To go down with the vessel.

So we sank, you and I,

Beneath the dark-blue waves.

Letting out a little sigh

That only water saves.

Some miracle had smashed

The ship upon a lonely rock

And so our bars were washed

Away with rusty lock.

Swimming, panting for dear air,

We made a break for shore.

The land was bleak and bare,

But we could not ask for more.

Exhausted, there we were,

On the barren land.

Death but delayed, that was sure—

For nothing but a strip of sand.

No trees, no plants, just you and I

Starving on the still, cool beach.

We both let out a tiny sigh

And stayed inside each others’ reach.

Dawn, dusk, and dawn again—

That I could but drown in your eyes!

Drowning’s so much better than

Thirst, starvation, and scorching skies.

Weaker, and weaker our bodies became

In the orange light of the sun;

Stronger and stronger, our love aflame

Burned ‘till our lives were done.

My crew is gone upon the sea;

The beach long covered by the waves.

Water is what will ever be

Over the body of the one my heart craves.

Never to be found,

Forever we stay

Forever bound

As we were that day.

As you sail the treacherous sea,

Think of captain’s mate below;

Then ever will his blue eyes be

Setting the sea’s waves aglow.