A Sailor's Song
I’m going to sail the ocean
I’m going to sail the sea
I’m going to find my one true love
And bring her home to me.
I’ll risk the howling tempest
I’ll fight the stormy wave
The stinging pain of loneliness
My true love for to save.
I’m sailing to St. Andrews
I hope to find her there
Devoted, waiting by the shore
With heather in her hair.
Her skin as white as daisies
Her lips like apple wine
Her voice like breezes from the moor
Sung cool and clear and fine.
I’ll kiss her in the moonlight
Upon the coast of Wales
And she will press her lips to mine
Like wind upon the sails.
I’ll tell her that I love her
And hope she loves me true
And if she does I’ll sail no more
Upon the ocean blue.
Sonnet To My Love
If you don’t wish to placate me then go,
For I am of no mood to compromise.
I know but black and white – the dove, the crow
Fly over me relentlessly. Your lies
Impale me like a spider on a board.
Your sighs bore through me like unsweetened gin.
Your limbs surround me like a knotted cord
Of rope. You hurt me with your chasmic grin.
But O, I can remember better times
So star-like shone your soul illuminate,
So golden, so naive of crimson crimes.
Your promised that you’d always be my mate.
Was that so long ago or but a day?
I cannot tell. All shades of black and white fade into grey.
Brian Yapko practices law but would rather be a poet. Although he has produced a distressing amount of legal writing, in mitigation Brian has also written a large body of poetry (one recently published), two children's plays (both published), several short stories and is presently hard at work on his first science fiction novel. Brian lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico with his husband Jerry and their canine child, Bianca.
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